


Adapting

by MonsterInDaBerth



Category: District 9 (2009)
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Alien Culture, Alien Gender/Sexuality, Alien Planet, Alien Sex, Alien Technology, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Humor, Body Horror, Coma, Depression, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hermaphrodites, Hybrids, M/M, Mating Bond, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mutation, Rescue Missions, Self-Esteem Issues, Transformation, Trust Issues, Wikus is a sad boii, Xenophilia, Xenophobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-08 23:17:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 44,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12875163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonsterInDaBerth/pseuds/MonsterInDaBerth
Summary: (Due to District 9 being limited to about 112 minutes so of course there's not enough interactions between my favorite characters. This is basically an expansion on the story as a whole, HOWEVER it will not end the same so don't worry. I just did this because I caught some feels rereading other fanfics and i wanted to revive our small fandom a bit)Wikus manages to find a place to hide after escaping MNU, a barren shack among thousands. You'd think that would make him difficult to find but you'd be wrong, thanks to little Oliver.





	1. A Secret

Wikus winced as he peeled off his tattered sleeve to reveal his bleeding arm. With bumps and grooves growing underneath his skin and jutting out painfully. "Fuck," he gasped, trying to stay as quiet as he could while examining his body. Wikus turned his head in the direction of a mirror, small candling lighting the shack as he inched closer towards it.

His back was torn and red, a dark green endoskeleton lied underneath. Wikus could feel tears welling up in his eyes as he touched and inspected himself. Everything was sore and he had little sleep. A dam was breaking as he began to slowly break down into sobs.

"Goddamn— fuck!"

His hands were clenched and shaking as he curled in on himself, whether to comfort or quiet himself he didn't know. Wikus laid there for a few minutes, cries dying down and turning into hiccups as he searched for what was left of his shirt. He'd have to go scavenging soon.

Wikus snorted.

He would never had thought that his life would go down this route. To be on the same level as the race his race oppressed. It was strange.

"Why-why me?" He asked to, well, himself.

Of all the people in the world this had to happen to him. A lowly bureaucrat who was doing his job. He bit his lip. That was really no excuse for what he let happen, evicting prawns, watching eggs burn and pop, and threatening young ones. Wikus slumped against the shaky shake walls, berating himself. He was certainly no angel but he hadn't really harmed anyone!

Right?

He rubbed his face with his grimy hand, trying to cease the argument he was losing.

Wikus didn't have many options, should he do something other than hide he risked death. By the government, the gangs, or the prawns. "Fuck," he drawled out, it seemed as though the word was the only thing keeping him sane.

And there was that hand. His alien one that seemed to mock during his ordeal. It was also a reminder of what's to come. It developed in only a day after being exposed to that fucking fluid. He didn't have much time left.

He would have to beg for mercy. The thought alone made him cringe. However, it's not as if he hasn't been a coward before in his life.

Wikus sighed to himself. He'd go in the morning.

()()()

Christopher's plans had all been ruined in one day.

20 years of work.

All gone.

He shut his eyes, frustration and anger causing his breathing to become sporadic. Christopher couldn't let the hopeless situation affect him too much, for the sake of his child.

He groaned. He came so close to losing Oliver to a trigger-happy soldier. All because of his roommate dealing weapons in their shared home. He tolerated it for a while, it wasn't as if he dealt in the shack and it usually brought food on the figurative table.

Now that it all lead to MNU taking the fuel he was furious.

Christopher slumped against a wall. He couldn't put all the blame on his late friend. He had his equipment out, he hid the fluid in a simple place, and he was the one who was difficult during the inspection. He sighed, he was so worried. Another 20 years. To collect more fluid. If that could be actually possible.

With the things were going could he actually protect Oliver? Who would die first if that were the case?

The living conditions would eventually get worse, food would become scarce, and the gangs would undoubtedly begin to run the district. There was no guarantee that Christopher would make it 20 years.

He held his head in his hands. He never felt so powerless.

A small chitter brought his attention to the door as Oliver tilted his head in confusion.

"What's wrong, Father?"

Christopher smiled sadly as his son hopped over to his lap. "I was just...overthinking." He brushed over Oliver's antennas.

"Overthinking about...everything." Christopher couldn't decide on whether it not to let Oliver in on what's to come. Informing him might heighten their chances of survival but he didn't wish to scare him.

"About the humans with guns?" He chirped, absentmindedly messing his father's fingers.

Christopher nodded. "They," he paused, reliving that moment. "They threatened to take you from me. And...I was frightened."

"Father gets frightened?"

Christopher wanted to chuckle so badly. His son kept him on a high pedestal. "Yes, Father gets frightened." He sighed. "Moreso in the last few days." Oliver was the main factor in his motivation. While he was hatched well after the incident he gave Christopher the will to attempt to leave this planet. His son would survive this hell.

"Oliver, I need you to listen carefully." His son responded with a curt nod. "The days coming are going to be tougher and the danger will be greater. I need your word that you'll stay safe. I don't want you outside after dark, alone for long periods of time, and I don't want you talking to strangers."

Oliver grimaced. "Not even Tom?" Christopher chuckled. "The neighbors are fine, but I want you to stay more alert. I don't know what I'll do if something were to happen to you." He tried his best to keep the sadness in his voice to a minimum.

Oliver nodded with a look of determination, holding his father's hand in his own. "I understand, Father! I don't want you to be frightened anymore."

Christopher smiled genuinely. For the first time in a while. Having such a declaration be made was heartwarming. And at the very least lessened his worries. "Thank you, Oliver," he said, slowly bringing his son in for a comforting hug.

As long as Oliver was safe and sound Christopher didn't care. Any challenges thrown his way would be faced head-on, for the sake of his beloved child.

()()()

"Fuck."

Wikus curled himself further into the pile of filthy blankets and clothes as rain continued to pelt the rickety roof.

He didn't know if it was actually cold or his body's sensitivity being out of whack. Having just eaten his last can of cat food Wikus was meditating on his next move. Perhaps stealing food again? No, he'd be spotted from a mile away. And it wasn't as if he could just wait till he fully transformed to blend in with the other prawns.

None of his...ex coworkers, other prawn, or even his wife wanted anything to do with him. Wikus was alone. That realization made him feel even more depressed. Having no one to turn to was maddening. Who could live like this? Certainly not himself for long.

His eyes glanced at his hand, dark green and grimy. How much could the hand get him? Around 30 cans of cat food should he decide to sell it to the local gangs. While the thought was simple in theory executing it would prove deadly. The last thing Wikus needed was to be one-handed in the type of environment he lived in. That and he doubted anyone a part of the gangs had any medical experience and he already almost died by the sharp edge of a scalpel.

"Who knew it'd end this way? Surrounded by trash and turning into a prawn?" Wikus' tone was light-hearted, acting as if the whole situation was mildly inconvenient. Maybe it was to calm his nerves as to not head into another sobbing fit.

"Had I been told this months ago I would've laughed awkwardly and walked away." He cuddled further into the blankets, reminiscing about his old, normal life. Who would've thought he'd miss his horrible job? No close friends, his boss disliked him greatly no matter how hard he tried to hide it, and the work itself. Paperwork, paperwork, and paperwork with a side of paperwork.

It was hell.

However Wikus was willing to go back. Be it 40 years or his whole life. Anything to stop...everything from happening.

He remembered going through many challenges alone, and he accepted them with ease. Going to college, paying bills, and marrying someone completely out of his league. He hadn't complained or begged for help. Be it out of competency or the fear of being viewed as weak. But this...

He was scared. Scared out of his mind. It wasn't as if there were similar experiences that Wikus could use as an example. He was in uncharted territory. All by himself. And he hated it. Every time he awoke he'd feel burning sensations and soreness with nothing to aid him. It was only going to get worse considering his food supplies had become completely empty.

Wikus had no phrases saturated in dry humor to lighten his mood. No fake words of encouragement. Nothing. "I wonder how long it'll take for my body to rot," he questioned to himself. Any theories he came up with were interrupted by a growl from his stomach.

"Starvation isn't as fun as I thought it would be." Who would've guessed that his sarcasm would most likely be his last words.

()()()

"I'll be safe, Father."

Christopher's mandibles twitched. "I know, but are you sure you'll be able to carry the bucket yourself?"

Oliver swung the old bucket back and forth as he swayed impatiently by the door. "I'm big enough now to carry water, Father." Being the youngling he was he wanted to grow up fast, to give his father some type of comfort so he wasn't worrying 24/7.

Christopher huffed. "I know that, but..." They just had a lengthy conversation the day before, he didn't wish to start lecturing again.

"It is raining, Father. There may be fewer people near the pump." Oliver had his small fingers crossed. Living in their crummy district wasn't the time and place to be bratty, but he wanted to show he was capable. At least a little bit.

After interrupting his dad's excuses with large, sad eyes Oliver was given permission to retrieve water for the two of them. He dashed out of their home, not before saying his thanks. Oliver made it to the pump in only a few minutes, once he filled it to the brim he began to waddle back to his home.

Until he heard quiet whimpers.

While it wasn't out of the ordinary to hear noises in the district these sounds were...different. They weren't purrs, whines, or trills. Sounds similar to the four-legged creatures that would scurry around.

That piqued Oliver's interest. It wasn't often that he ran into one of those animals. It wouldn't take long to give the creature a few pats on the head and scratches on it's stomach.

He remembered a few of the humans from around the gates call it a dog. It looked friendly enough. Even though it was loud.

Oliver snuck over towards the source of the whimpers, swaying the heavy bucket to make it easier to walk.

Dodging piles of trash and small hazards embedded in the dirt the small prawn placed the bucket near the hovel. Oliver managed to find a small opening to avoid using the front door and crawled his way inside. His antenna pricked up as the whimpers suddenly stopped. Did the dog run away? Oliver's posture slumped down out of disappointed.

"Who's there?"

Instinct told Oliver to duck and escape from the shack but his curiosity was at an all-time high. His eyes landed Wikus, who seemed groggy and disoriented. Probably just waking up from a nap.

Oliver gasped. "Mr. Sweetie Man?"

Wikus groaned internally. Of all people to find him wallowing in his own sadness. "Why are you here?" He smacked his lips,

"I was getting water from the pump, Father let me go on my own," Oliver answered. Apparently, now that they were having a conversation Oliver took that as an invitation to sit with Wikus.

"I'm gonna assume you already have your water. Bye," he mumbled, huddling back into a ball.

"Why are you in those blankets? Are you playing hide and seek?" There was a tone of excitement as Oliver scooted closer.

Sure, hide and seek where if you're found you're killed.

"No, just, listen just go home— and don't tell anyone you saw me!" Wikus managed to keep his voice down as sharp pricks of pain ran down his back. Blinking away tears he sighed. "Besides, you shouldn't be talking to strangers." The hybrid suppressed the urge to stretch and instead curled in on himself further. He didn't need the kid seeing...his mutated body.

"That's what Father said, but Mr. Sweetie Man isn't a stranger!" Oliver emitted nothing but innocent as he giggled. His father and the human thought alike.

Wikus looked away. Now that the prawn he threatened was brought up it was a bit awkward. At least for himself.

Wait.

If Christopher found out about this he would certainly turn Wikus in, in return for making threats related to Oliver.

Before Oliver could even get up to leave Wikus urgently whispered, "That's true, I'm not a stranger! And I _am_ hiding, so I need you to not tell ANYONE I'm here— _especially_ your dad!" A playful and light-hearted tone was difficult to pull off on an empty stomach but Wikus managed to succeed.

Speaking of starving to death...

His stomach decided to voice it's discomfort, making Wikus groan from hunger and embarrassment. "What was that, Mr. Sweetie Man?" Oliver tilted his head out of confusion. Who knew the insides of humans could talk.

"I'm just...hungry," Wikus grumbled, wondering if punching his stomach would force it into submission. "And stop calling me that— Wikus is fine, hell, keep the Mr. But no more sweetie man."

Oliver nodded. "Mr. Wikus!"

He sighed. "Yeah, that's my name. Now if you would please leave me alone with my thoughts. I have some stomach acid to digest." His words trailed off in mutters as he repositioned himself. If he was going to die he was going to go out with the slightest bit of comfort.

"Okay, Mr.Wikus! I'll see you tomorrow!"

Oliver hopped up and out of the shack, ignoring Wikus' polite discouragements. Such as, "You don't need to come back," and "Seriously, don't come back."

Oliver chirped goodbye one more time as he carried the bucket back towards his own shack.

Having his own little secret was exciting. Oliver couldn't inform his father of his small adventure for fear of having to stay in their home permanently but it thrilled him to no end. He spoke his greetings as he entered his home, apologizing for taking so long.

It wouldn't be the last time however.


	2. Exposed

Wikus groaned to himself. _Why can't I rot faster?_ His head was beginning to ache painfully as he hadn't had any food for days, the earlier rainfall provided him with some water but it wasn't protein.

"Mr.Wikus?"

The hybrid considered himself lucky he wasn't underneath anything or he would've bumped his head against it in surprise.

"Kid?"

"It's me, Oliver!"

Wikus huffed. "Wish you told me you were deaf 'cause you _clearly_ cannot hear." He was getting a bit irritated but it felt nice to speak to someone after being on his own for so long.

"I heard, I just did not listen."

Wikus blinked. Okay, the kid was smarter than he originally thought. Just naive. Wikus still wished he moved shacks when he could've but his body didn't seem to want to move.

"I brought you food!" Oliver held out an untouched can of cat food with both hands, eyes creased to signify a big smile.

It left the poor man stunned. He was literally speechless for a few moments as his brain processed it all. Once his body realized there was food in front of him Wikus reached out to grab the can.

A word of thanks was spewed out from somewhere as Wikus used his mutated hand to open it. Loud and unsavory noises was all that could describe his meal but he made a point of not dropping a bit of it.

"Oh! Mr.Wikus!" Oliver plainly pointed to the obviously none human hand attached to Wikus. "You're like me!"

The child's little outburst didn't register to Wikus as he licked the can clean, tossing it aside with a satisfied smile.

It was only after he mentally questioned Oliver's shocked expression did he realize that he was exposed.

Wikus didn't even try to cover himself. The damage was done.  He groaned, looking everywhere except at Oliver.

"How did you do this?"

"It's not like I did this to myself," Wikus remarked, but kept the angry edge out of his voice as he knew he was speaking to a child. "There was an...accident." _I made a mistake and now my life is fucked._

He didn't pull away when Oliver grasped his mutated hand in his own, acting as if there's a possibility it's not real.

"It's a very pretty hand," Oliver declared, roaming his fingers and eyes over it.

"Uh, thanks, kid." There was no real correct way to respond to that so Wikus moved on from it. "Feels weird though."

"Really? Feel normal to me." Oliver's eyes never left Wikus' dark green hand, still fascinated.

"Imagine you woke up one day with a human hand," Wikus playfully snarled, holding up his normal hand.

Oliver giggled. "That would be very funny!" Wikus supposed imagining the kid with a tiny human hand was humorous.

A twinge of pain made Wikus reach behind is back with a low groan. He had nearly forgotten the painful aspect of his transformation.

"Is it happening all over?"

Wikus nodded.

"Yeah, it would be so bad if it didn't hurt like a mother— like, a lot."

Oliver squawked. "It hurts?!"

Wikus jolted back at the loud burst. "Only a little right now, I'm fine." He forgot how unnerving it was to talk to children. They were bundles of energy with a million questions.

"I could get Father—"

"No!"

Wikus cleared his throat. "No, no, I'd feel better if he wasn't involved."

Oliver pouted. "Are you sure you do not want Father to help?" His dad was great at fixing things, he could fix this too.

Wikus nodded. "Yes, I'm positive. Super duper positive. Now get out of here, he's probably looking for you."

"He's out scavaging."

"Then go help then, I'll just stay here and..." _Rot._ "Sleep."

Oliver sighed sadly with defeat.

Wikus tried with all his might not to pay attention to the saddened prawn trudging to the exit of the shack.

Of course he gave in.

"Make sure to bring more cat food next time you come over."

The small child emitted a happy trill as he dashed out of the home.

Wikus banged his head against the wall behind him, which proved to be a mistake as it created a loud noise.

"Fucking prawns."

()()()

Christopher was scavaging all day and he was already feeling exhausted.

Doing it for a whole 20 earth years was tiring, and the thought of having to go through it all again made him want to cry out in anger.

As a way to physically lash out Christopher chucked empty can yards away. And he sighed. At the rate he was going his people would never be free.

Begging for assistance from the other drones wouldn't do much. When they all first landed on the planet he declared his plan to the masses only for their leader to up and die.

The others became disobedient and aggressive but luckily steered clear of messing with Christopher and his hatchling. A few managed to stay civilized and on good terms with him.

There were less now due to his roommate's untimely death. Would collecting fuel take even longer now that it was just himself and his offspring?

He shuddered.

"Why did you toss this can, Father?"

Christopher turned and looked down at his child. "I was... frustrated."

Oliver tilted his head, cradling the broken tin can. "It was an okay can," he pouted.

Christopher chuckled and ran his hand over Oliver's antennas. "Did you find anything?" They walked towards another pile of trash and began searching for anything valuable.

"No." Oliver's answer was a bit too quick but Christopher didn't question it.

"Did you find anything, Father?"

He shook his head. "No, unfortunately."

"How much longer do we need to do this?"

Christopher paused his rummaging. He couldn't answer that question truthfully.

"I...don't know."

Oliver remained undeterred. "But Father knows everything."

Christopher smiled warmly. "No one knows everything, but if I had to estimate it would be around 20 earth years."

The small prawn's eyes widened in surprise. "That long?! I'll be old by then," he cried, grimaced from the thought.

"Ha, you'll be just out of adolescent by then." Christopher teased, adding more material into his nap-sack.

Both prawns searched in silence for a bit when Oliver asked another question.

"Why do we have to wait longer? Is it because of the scary humans with guns that came to our home a few moons ago?"

Christopher was surprised that his child was just then bringing it up but he had kept him in the dark until recently.

"Yes."

The small prawn looked away and smiled to himself. Mr. Wikus was with the humans with guns! Maybe he'd know what happened and if he did he could help!

"Do we have enough to get some food, Father?"

The sudden change of topic didn't faze Christopher and he nodded. "Just enough for a few cans and perhaps a lamb leg."

Oliver jumped enthusiastically. His day was getting better and better.

()()()

"F-fuck!"

Wikus felt as if his stomach was imploding, and the constant aches and pains only added to the hybrid's suffering.

He wasn't surprised that that single can of cat food hadn't been enough to fend off his hunger pains for long.

It wasn't that he was dying that bothered him, it was how boring it was. What he wouldn't give for some booze or, hell, maybe some drugs. Anything to get his mind off of his misery.

"Heh," Wikus bitterly smiled as he recalled the last time he got shit-faced. It was during his wedding. At first he wanted to stay sober to remember that wonderful night but his brother-in-law had other plans. Fast forward to midnight and he was hitting on his newlywed wife which ended with him crying when she explained how she was married.

He found himself smiling genuinely for the first time since the incident.

Wikus frowned.

No, he hasn't smiled for longer than that. Now that he thought about it he hasn't felt happy for a while either.

During the documentary he managed to pull off a happy demeanor to put MNU in a good light. That was hell. After being sprayed with the strange alien fluids you could see him beginning to crack, acting abrasive and irritated.

Yeah, his job wasn't the greatest. That's how he got in his situation. His horrible father-in-law decided that he should go. Of course Wikus couldn't say no, maybe because he didn't want to be viewed as more of a coward than he already was.

That and he had a promotion in mind. A chance to get out of his cramped cubicle and to bring home more money.

And now it was all out of reach.

Wikus choked on a sob. He shouldn't have tried to distract himself with painful memories. Be it of his angel, Tanya, or of his miserable profession.

Luckily he heard scurrying outside and focused on that.

"Hi, Mr. Wikus!"

Wikus didn't have to strain a smile as the young prawn crawled his way into his hiding place. If he were asked he'd deny it all the way but it was nice to have Oliver pop in and just talk. Maybe it was because after all the shit he had done Oliver still interacted with him. As happy and generous as he could be.

The faint scent of something filled the shabby room and Wikus couldn't place it.

"Here!" Oliver held out a lamb leg wrapped crudely in packaging paper.

Wikus slowly reached out with his human hand. The thing was fucking raw but it wasn't as if he could cook it, the smoke would clearly bring unwanted attention.

"Thanks, kid," he whispered, mentally preparing himself to eat raw meat.

Oliver nodded his head in acknowledgment. "I snuck it out!" He was a little overly enthusiastic about that.

The hybrid was half-way through his second bite of the lamb, eating it with more and more vigor as his body sought to devour it all. "So your dad's not gonna freak out when he sees that a whole chunk of meat is missing?" He muttered in between chews, silently hoping Christopher doesn't find out punish him for eating it.

"It was an early hatching day gift, Father will not mind," Oliver declared, taking his seat next to his new friend.

Wikus paused, he was currently digging into a birthday gift? He quelled the urge to spit the meat out from shame.

"You..you didn't have to give this to me, kid," he swallowed.

Jesus, he was hungry but he didn't need any more guilt added to his life. Taking a child's birthday gift was a bit too much.

His hand hesitantly held the lamb leg towards the young prawn.

Wikus was a bit surprised the naive child took it back but felt that it was for the best, for his emotional state at least.

Oliver took a large bite out of the lamb leg, munching loudly as his tentacles wiggled from the taste. And he proceeded to hand it back to Wikus.

The human didn't say anything and sunk his teeth into the meat.

They continued that pattern until the bone was bare. Wikus didn't feel like complete shit anymore and that was a plus in his book.

Never did he think that he would be sharing a meal with a prawn. Luckily it was with an adorable one.

Tossing the bone somewhere insignificant Wikus laid back into his nest of blankets, pleasantly stuffed and content. Hell, even his body felt as if it was less in pain. Maybe he'd be able to sleep soundly for a bit.

"Mr. Wikus?"

Never mind then.

Wikus made a noise of acknowledgment as he kept his eyes closed.

"Where did the humans with guns take Father's stuff?"

Okay, that was an interesting question. And out of nowhere. Oliver was a child with little tact and Wikus could respect that.

"Probably to their base of operations," he mumbled, his dinner spreading warmth through his transforming body. He could've sworn it was turkey that made you sleepy afterwards.

"Could we get Father's things back?" Oliver leaned in to better hear as Wikus was quickly dozing off and getting quieter.

"Maybe," Wikus honestly wasn't quite sure but the less he spoke the quicker he could get to sleep.

"Really, Mr. Wikus?" The young prawn asked quietly, hearing the human's breathing slow down.

When Wikus didn't answer Oliver took it as a sign to leave and see his father. He silently said goodbye and happily skittered out of the hovel.

His father would surely be pleased to learn that it was possible to get his things back from the humans. Then they could go to their homeworld!

Various neighbors looked on in confusion as little Oliver was beaming with joy seemingly over nothing.

It didn't matter. The chance that he'd see the planet his father missed so dearly and spoke so highly of was within reach.

All thanks to Mr. Wikus!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOHOHOH Wikus' got a big storm coming~ I also got the whole story planned out, luckily this means ill be able finish it


	3. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arguments? Arguments.

Christopher resisted the urge to pace back and forth. He could taste his anxiety in the air as he waited for Oliver to arrive home.

It was just beginning to get dark and he felt a rock in the pit of his abdomen. No matter how old Oliver were to get Christopher would always worry about his well being.

He tinkered with more materials to take his mind off his troubles. Oliver was fine and had a few more earth minutes until Christopher could arguably get anxious.

His antenna twitched as approaching footsteps got louder and louder.

"Father!"

Oliver shut the rickety door behind him, trying his best not to jump up and down from the excitement flooding himself.

"What is it, Oliver?" Christopher went into protective parent mode instantly. The only reason he wasn't physically ready to defend or attack was because he could sense his child's joy from a mile away.

"We don't have to scavenge anymore!" Oliver exclaimed, he was so excited to tell his father of the information.

Christopher slightly deflated in stature as he kneeled down to listen to what Oliver had to say. Due to him being nearly a hatchling meant that any idea he had may have to be shut down with plausible situations and in-depth questions to get him to understand how their lives could be at stake.

"Mr. Wikus knows where the humans with guns took your things, Father!"

The earth seemed to rotate slower than usual. Christopher could actually feel it. He was painfully aware of everything.

Wikus?

As in the human that got them in their current situation in first place?

Christopher had to give himself credit for suppressing his anger before Oliver could even register it. He clenched his hands, evened out his breaths, and loosened himself up physically. 

"What—what, Oliver?" He hadn't meant to stutter but there was a multitude of questions that he needed, or wanted, answered.

"Mr. Wikus! I asked him about your things and he said we could get them back! After that we can just go home!" Oliver was pleasantly ignorant of his father's silent rage.

"Where did he tell you this?" Faking a cheerful tone proved successful as Oliver smiled.

"In his hiding place! He is playing hide and seek," he whispered, as if they were being spied on.

Christopher's expression didn't change, save for a slight twitch from his left antenna. "And where is Mr. Wikus hiding?"

Oliver's ecstatic face was interrupted by a frown. "Mr. Wikus said not to tell." He put up a finger in a shh-ing motion.

Had Christopher been human his lips would've been stretched out in a strained smile. "Well, it's about time to end the game, my child. Besides, I'm fairly sure Mr. Wikus is tired." Because I know I am.

Oliver pouted. "Hmm, okay." He grabbed his father's hands. "Just do not tell him I told you!" The last thing he wanted was for Wikus to resent him for giving away his hiding spot just so his father could win their game.

No, it was to end the game. It had been going on for half-week. Perhaps longer since Oliver discovered the human.

"I promise not to tell, on my soul." Christopher pressed his forehead against his son's in a comforting manner.

Oliver nodded. "Thank you, Father!" He trilled. Christopher smiled, not forced this time around.

Ah, yes. The human was gonna die.

()()()

_"Wikus?"_

_He pried his eyes open. It couldn't be morning already. He could've sworn he had a good 12 hours before daybreak._

_He turned on his side, causing the bed to creak— wait, bed?_

_Wikus quickly lifted himself up. He was in his bedroom._

_"What, what the fuck?"_

_He ran his hand through his hair, looking around. How the hell did he get there?_

_Wait._

_He took a glance at his mutated hand. It was back to normal._

_"Wikus, please, I need to speak to you."_

_His heart stopped. It was Tanya, his beautiful. But she sounded distressed._

_He slipped out of bed, shakily making his way towards her voice which came from their bathroom._

_"Y-yes?" He couldn't stop himself from stuttering, nothing made sense to him at the moment._

_His wife, still in her pajamas, stood by the sink. She held what appeared to be a pregnancy test._

_Wikus' heart sped up._

_All words failed him as he inched closer to his wife. He stuttered and reached out, either to hold her or check to see if it was true._

_Tanya's tears and trembling smile was enough to confirm it's authenticity._

_"Oh my — oh my God," Wikus was brought into a hug as his wife cried happily._

_It was amazing. They'd finally be able to decorate the guest room like Tanya always wanted._

_Hell, maybe Wikus' father-in-law would finally show him some respect. The possibilities were endless._

_Wikus listened attentively as his wife rambled on about how they were going to raise such a wonderful family together, both still in an intimate embrace._

_It wasn't until she began to get lower and lower in volume that Wikus looked at her. She was still moving her mouth as if she was talking normally, however._

_The room got so silent that Wikus could clearly hear the ringing in his ears._

_He couldn't say anything, all words stay stuck in his throat. He reached up to touch his neck when he realized his hand was mutated again._

_Wikus jumped back. What was happening?_

_He looked back up at Tanya and she was still going on and on to herself, it was as if she couldn't see him anymore._

_Wikus reached out with his human hand and found that he couldn't move. But Tanya could._

_He watched in horror as she got further and further away, the room getting longer and longer until Wikus was left in a dark void._

_Tears streamed down his face as his silent screams did nothing._

_Tanya._

_Tanya._

_Tanya!_

"Ahh!" Wikus wasn't sure how but he managed to cut off his outburst before anyone could hear.

He covered his mouth, attempting to even out his breathing as sporadic sobs shook him. That dream, memory, fuck, he didn't know.

It just _felt_ so real.

The actual event didn't happen that way but it was an accurate generalization.

He got a phone call from her during work and did his best to contain his excitement. Luckily no one caught him jumped up and down for joy in the parking lot.

That was 2 months ago.

He glared at his prawn hand and sighed. Having to deal with that nightmare tuckered him out so he covered himself back up.

With a sniffle here and there Wikus managed to get back into a state of grogginess, with tears drying on his cheeks.

Then he heard shuffling from outside.

"Go home, Oliver," he groaned. He had only around an hour of sleep and he was physically tired. Dealing with the talkative youngling wasn't what he needed.

The shuffling continued.

"Oliver, I'm emotionally drained, go home," Wikus grumbled, exhaustion being evident in his tone of voice.

The front door of the shack opened and closed with little noise. Did the youngling check inside and the leave?

"Wikus."

The human's eyes shot open so fast that his actual sight needed a second to actually see.

It was Christopher. An _angry_ Christopher.

Before Wikus could say or yell anything the large prawn clamped his hand on Wikus' mouth.

"I suggest you keep quiet, _Mr. Wikus_." His name was growled out, scaring Wikus further as he wasn't sure what Oliver told his dad.

Jesus Christ, he was fucked.

"Are you going to keep your noises to a minimum?" Christopher rumbled, anger rolling off of him in waves. He was leaning in, inches from Wikus' face.

Wikus hesitantly nodded, keeping constant eye contact with the giant alien. It was the closest he had ever been to a prawn and it was extremely unsettling.

Christopher slowly retracted his hand, relaxing a bit when the human didn't freak out or scream.

Wikus didn't say anything, what could he say? _Hey, sorry I searched your house, threatened your kid, and turned myself into one of you?_   That sure as hell wasn't going to fly.

Thankfully Christopher spoke first.

"Why are you hiding _here_?" With emphasis on the word here Wikus knew he'd have to explain his situation.

The only issue was what would Christopher do? He obviously wouldn't just leave Wikus to die in peace. Eat him? Maybe.

Apparently Wikus was taking too long for his liking. "Answer me," the extraterrestrial snarled, mandibles twitching with tension.

Wikus put his human hand up. "Alright, alright! Calm down," he yelped.

"I'm here 'cause..." _I fucked up_. "I..." _I'm a dumbass_. "I-i..." _I'm a fucking coward._

He sighed in defeat. Instead of verbally giving an explanation Wikus revealed his mutated hand.

There was no immediate reaction.

Christopher couldn't help staring. He had never encountered anything akin to this. Granted, he did suspect something was off during his eviction when Wikus stumbled off coughing and sputtering but he wouldn't have guessed the fuel could've done this.

It was unheard of and he was at a loss.

His anger was quickly replaced with sympathy. To think that Wikus had to flee to District 9 due to the mutation.

"Yeah, yeah, take it all in. We done here?" Wikus felt shame flood his cheeks as Christopher continued to scan over his clawed hand.

Being judged by a prawn shouldn't have made him feel humiliated but it did. He did this to himself, that was all there was to it. And he begrudgingly accepted it.

Christopher made sure not to have any physical contact with the hybrid in case he freaked out again, but his curiosity was killing him.

There so many questions he wanted to ask but it was highly unlikely Wikus knew how to respond.

For the time being he decided to stick with anything the human would have knowledge of.

Christopher watched as the human avoided eye contact, flexing his clawed hand out of anxiety.

"...now what?" Wikus dreaded the answer.

Christopher grimaced. What could they do? Just ignore each other and go back to their mundane lives?

Then it hit him. Why he was there in the first place, what Oliver had confessed to him.

The fuel and the possibility of getting it back.

"... Christopher?" Wikus whimpered, seeing the alien spaced out was unnerving, to say the least.

"Where is the fuel?"

Wikus blinked. "The–the fuel—? Oh, the black stuff in the container!" He regretted having so much enthusiasm in his voice as Christopher leaned in closer again.

"Where is it?"

"It's, it's at the MNU research facility!" Wikus was starting to wish he hadn't chosen a wall to rest against as he had no escape route.

God damn it all.

Christopher's antenna twitched. He had had to deal with the blasted military for many earth years and to think the key to his people's freedom rested with them didn't surprise him in the least. But that didn't do anything to quell his anger.

Wikus jumped as Christopher smashed his fist against the shaky walls. The prawn stood up, clicking and growling lowly to himself as he paced in the small room.

Feeling a bit more relaxed that there was some distance between the two Wikus straightened his sore back. Pops and cracks were heard and it made him cringe. Who would've thought his bones would be creaking so early at his age.

"You have single-handedly doomed my people."

Wow.

That was a dreadful statement.

"Excuse me—?"

"You, Wikus, took the fuel I've spent a large portion of my life collecting and now my people are stuck on this oppressive planet!"

Christopher kept his clicks short and sharp, getting any louder could cause heads to turn and inspect what little privacy they had.

"I'll have you know I was just doing my job! How was I supposed to know this would fucking happen?!" Wikus clenched his hands, glaring at the tall prawn. He managed to gather enough strength to stand up as to stop looking straight up at the freakishly tall prawn.

"You are such a hatchling, you take no responsibility for this situation!" Christopher sneered. "If you weren't mutating you wouldn't have even batted an eye over screwing my people over."

Wikus was taken aback. Christopher was right, as much as he hated to say so. Had his life been unaffected he'd have gone on normally.

The shame was coming back.

"And now we're stuck here, I certainly hope you're happy, Wikus."

The hybrid hated to admit it but the prawn was exceptionally great at guilt tripping. He was very worthy of being a parent.

There wasn't anything he could use to argue against him, everything was out in the open.

It wasn't as if Wikus could tell Christopher that he was overreacting. In fact, he was being extremely civil. Had Wikus been in the same position the offender would've been dead.

Not having anything else to say Wikus turned away, keeping Christopher in his peripherals.

Christopher was fully ignoring Wikus. His back to the human and he was muttering to himself. Had he not have had a child to go home to he would've caused a scene that ended with Wikus covered in blood.

Yet he knew he wouldn't have done it anyway. While the others had not been the most cooperative or aware of the physical damage they can cause to such a squishy race Christopher's race as a whole wasn't destructive.

And he wished to keep it that way for himself and his son. The thought of harming Wikus while he was going through something otherworldly didn't sit well with him.

As much as he hated him he couldn't bring himself to strike the human out of anger.

That left what to do next unsolved.

"Father? Mr. Wikus?"

Both of the adults turned towards Oliver, who was standing nervously in the doorway.

One question plagued both of their minds: just how much did he see?

Wikus hesitantly walked closer. If he stayed on good terms with Oliver there'd be less of a chance of Christopher offing him.

"Hey, kid~," he drawled, keeping a smile on his face. If prawns could actually sense fear Wikus knew he'd be found out but Oliver didn't seem too concerned. Wikus squatted down to be eye to eye with the child and he winced as things cracked and ached.

"Were you and Father fighting?" Those big eyes were going to be the death of him.

Wikus shook his head, chuckling nervously. "Your dad and I were having a _civil_ conversation," he explained, his calm voice shaking a bit as he could feel Christopher glaring daggers into the back of his skull.

"I heard yelling."

Fuck. Why did Oliver have to be so observant.

"It was excited yelling," _Wow, such a great lie._ Wikus could hear a snort come from behind him and refused to acknowledge it.

"Your dad and I were talking about the whole fuel situation." It wasn't completely a lie. "And I guess we got carried away, sorry if we scared you." There was honest in his words, the last thing Wikus needed was to have the only person to recently treat him with unconditional kindness hate him.

Oliver nodded. "Ah! Okay, Mr. Wikus." His hands clasped together in joy. "Does that mean you are done playing hide and seek?"

The human grinned. "I guess so," he said as he looked off to the side. There was no reason for Oliver to be so cute.

Christopher, meanwhile, was intently staring at his son. How long had he and the human been around each other to be so casual?

He pushed the thought back, keeping his anger under control was proving difficult and he didn't need to add more to the fire.

"Then you can come stay with Father and me!"

Wikus and Christopher both snapped, "What?!" The human's was confused and the alien's was angry.

Oliver tilted his head. "If Mr. Wikus stays with us, Father, we can work together to get your things back and go home!"

Oliver emitted so much hope that neither Wikus nor Christopher could shut him down. Not that Wikus was going to give the prawn the chance.

While the thought of living under the same roof as Christopher was more than unpleasant he'd have some form of protection. The alien wouldn't let any harm come to his son's friend, right?

"Yes!—Yes, I'll be staying with you," Wikus agreed. He groaned inwardly, however, the daggers were back.

"Yay!" Oliver pumped his fists up in the air while smiling. They were going to go back home and Wikus got to sleepover, his day was getting better and better.

"Oliver."

While he wasn't the one called Wikus reacted anyway. He didn't turn around though, perhaps to keep Christopher from seeing the fear in his eyes.

"Could you run ahead and tidy up for our new guest?"

Wikus hadn't heard a prawn speak with such irritation before and he had to keep himself from shivering.

Oliver clicked in response and made his way out the door. Leaving Wikus with an aggravated parent.

"Any reason you found it logical to lie to my child?" The extraterrestrial growled, arms crossed and fingers twitching.

Wikus stood up and groaned, the skin on his back breaking a bit more as he shot up too quickly. "Um, maybe because I don't want to die?" He glanced at his mutated hand. "At least from anything that's not natural causes." His sarcastic muttered didn't go unheard.

"And you felt the need to manipulate Oliver?—"

"Oh, don't you try and pull _that_ shit! If anything he manipulated _me_..." Wikus mentally shot himself in the foot. His mother did tell him that his snide comments would get him into trouble.

"I never asked him to give a shit about me, he has free will." The human crossed his arms, the fear lessening as he was accused.

"He is young, too young to be around the likes of you."

Wikus frowned. Okay, that hurt. It was true but it still hurt.

"As far as I know all I did was tell him where the fuel was, nothing else."

"And now he thinks we can just get it back."

"You're his dad! _You_ can tell him why Mr. Wikus doesn't wanna risk his life just to get you guys on a barely functioning alien ship! I have a family!"

"And yet you're hiding out here all alone."

Wikus barely caught himself, almost reaching out to hit the prawn. Where did he get off of saying that? Baring his teeth Wikus straightened up and evened out his breathing.

Christopher couldn't help pointing out obvious facts as the human was an open book. Complex, yes, but open nonetheless.

"Selfishness never gets anyone far in life." Wikus didn't respond. "It's a pity really."

That got his attention. The human didn't say anything but his confused expression was enough for Christopher to continue.

"Had I still had the fuel I could've fixed you."

What?

Wikus almost stumbled unto his knees.

There was a possibility. He could be normal again. Be human again. Be with his wife again!

Christopher stood still, analyzing the human's thought process. He wasn't prepared for the hybrid to grip his forearm with desperation.

"Are you—you serious, Christopher? You're not just fucking with me?"

The prawn squinted his eyes at the strange choice of words but understood what Wikus was asking. "I am _not_ fucking with you, my people are actually very advanced. If we had the fuel we could travel to my planet and cure you."

Christopher didn't stop himself from explaining the plan he had from the beginning. Maybe because if he appealed to Wikus' goals there'd be a greater chance of success. But there was a risk of Wikus just betraying them. His loyalty was to himself and his family. A fact that kept Christopher on edge.

"Then let's come up with a plan or something! We'll need weapons and—" Wikus' hype was interrupted by a prawn hand being clamped unto his mouth.

"Wikus, I'll need you to keep your voice down."

The human bitterly tore Christopher's hand off of him and glared. "If we're gonna be roommates, _Mr. Johnson_ , I'm going to need you to keep your prawn hands to yourself."

He was surprised to see Christopher roll his eyes. "Seems irrelevant now," he remarked while jabbing Wikus' own prawn hand.

Wikus bit the inside of his lip as he walked to the door. Luckily walking wasn't too painful as he'd rather wish for death than be carried by a prawn.

Christopher heard a mumble of let's go or something akin to it as he followed.

The thought of getting the fuel back allowed him to ignore the human's sour attitude. But how long would that last?

Hopefully Oliver would entertain their guest during his stay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am on a roll~ I forgot how fun it is writing dialogue, especially in a slow burn ≧◡≦ (jfc i love how oliver's like, "mommy, daddy, pls stop fighting" i cant stop laughing)


	4. The Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> imma fix any typos later, i just really needed to update this~

Oliver happily hummed to himself as he made his home look presentable for Wikus. Which wasn't difficult as all he had to do was pick up a few crude toys and straighten things up.

He was so excited. Christopher never let him have friends over, although he never had many to begin with. There weren't a lot of hatchlings in the district, be it from abandonment or humans.

It was fun to have someone new to talk to, even if it was a human.

Oliver sprang up as he heard muffled voices and footsteps from outside. He took a seat at the coffee table and sat up straight.

"And last I checked I was whispering," Wikus mumbled, giving Christopher a side eye.

"I am pretty sure the whole block heard you."

"I tripped over _once_!"

Oliver angled his head towards the adults as they entered the shack.

"Welcome, Mr. Wikus!"

The human couldn't help but chuckle at the small prawn's jazz hands as he showed off their home.

As relieved Wikus was to be in a safer environment he felt anxious. He was in the place where his life changed for the worse. He was going to make a point of avoiding the chemistry room in the back.

He joined the youngling on the floor, keeping an eye on Christopher who opted to stand.

"Now what, Father?" Oliver was barely able to keep himself contained, squirming on the floor with excitement.

"Right now we're going to rest."

Oliver deflated and Wikus stifled a chuckle as the young prawn's antennas drooped.

"It is the middle of the night and I doubt we'll get anything done while Wikus is half asleep," Christopher stated with his arms crossed. Dealing the human for any longer was going to test his sanity.

He was a bit surprised to see the human nod, they had been butting heads for the past hour.

"I'm ready to pass out since you two woke me up in the middle of a nap." _At the end of a nightmare_.

Oliver squeaked. "I'm sorry, Mr. Wikus!"

The human chuckled. "It's, it's fine, Oliver." He didn't expect such a genuine response of worry to his complaint.

"You can sleep in the ship!"

Wikus blinked. "What?" Did he mean the alien ship floating in the air?

"Come," Christopher's irritability was easily noticeable and Wikus watched the large prawn walked over to the other side of the room and knelt down to the floor.

Swiping away cardboard and blankets Christopher gripped a handle and opened a hatch, air hissing out slowly.

Wikus sat speechlessly, how could he have missed that the first time he came to their home?

Christopher motioned Oliver over who enthusiastically jumped down the hatch.

When Wikus didn't immediately follow Christopher tilted his head towards it, eyes hooded from exhaustion.

The human inched towards the opening, nervously peering inside. He glanced at Christopher one more time before heading in.

Climbing down proved to be a challenge as he could feel skin grinding against armor in his left arm. Wikus cradled it once he had both feet on the floor of the ship.

It wasn't as big as his imagination led him to think but it was amazing to wonder how Christopher was able to hide it.

It was littered with little blue lights yet wasn't completely illuminated. Wikus spotted the youngling sitting in what looked like a piloting seat, legs swinging back and forth with glee.

"How–how did you...?"

"Let us just say it was troublesome," Christopher huffed, hopping down into the ship beside Wikus.

Wikus made his way towards Oliver, being extra careful not to press anything and cause the ship to self-destruct. He didn't speak, he was in a confined space with a giant alien who barely tolerated his presence. Not the most inviting place to fall asleep.

"Alright, Oliver, let's leave Wikus to rest."

The young prawn whined sadly but changed his tone as he approached the ladder to the shack. "Have a good rest, Mr. Wikus!"

As Oliver scrambled up the ladder Wikus chuckled. "You too, kid." That prawn was too cute.

Then it dawned on Wikus that he was alone with Christopher again and he groaned. Obviously not out loud though.

Gripping his sore arm Wikus awkwardly gazed around the room, avoiding eye contact with the prawn.

"Don't touch anything near the controls unless you want to expose yourself and destroy any chances of returning to normal," Christopher hissed. Hoping his warnings would be enough to get the hybrid to behave he turned to leave.

"I'm also locking the hatch door."

"What?!"

Christopher's antennas twitched. "I still don't trust you, if that bothers you you can find another place to rest." Wikus wondered if he was always this grumpy or because it was around 1 am.

"Fine, fine! Leave me to wallow," Wikus muttered, angrily waving his hand in a shooing motion.

Christopher didn't respond to the human's annoyance and exited.

Wikus laid on the floor a few feet away from the hatch and from the controls.

At his age he tried to stay away from sleeping on hard surfaces but it seemed that sleeping on a mattress again was out of the question.

He sighed. Had Oliver not have came and fed him he'd still be in a barely standing shack with little to no food. Shivering and crying from the physical pain.

He supposed being in an alien spaceship protected from the elements and outside threats was better than nothing.

Wikus closed his eyes, trying to focus on sleep. Luckily it came quickly and the ship was quiet save for his soft snores.

()()()

"Oliver, rest."

Said youngling bounced unto the futon as he father joined him.

"Are you excited about getting the fuel back, Father?"

Christopher didn't answer just then. The aspect of it gave him some hope but there was too much uncertainty.

"Once we put more depth into our plan I'll be ecstatic," he promised. He slowly laid on the cushion next to his son.

"I'm ecstatic, Father!"

"I know," Christopher hummed. He silently wished for his child to fall asleep fast. The next day was sure to be stressful and aggravating. How could a human be so infuriating? Be it that he hadn't interacted with many humans on this level before.

Oliver took his silence as a sign to sleep, but he continued to buzz with elation.

The room got quieter and calmer as Christopher's soothing whistles lulled Oliver asleep.

As long as Oliver was present the two adults could try and stay civil.

Keyword try.

()()()

Wikus was surprised that he got more than a few hours of sleep without being interrupted by nightmares or hatchings looking for conversation.

While sleeping on a flat surface was less than comfortable it was nice to be somewhere safe from uncomfortable weather conditions.

The hybrid was nervous. Should they not come up with a none suicidal plan Wikus would just become a prawn stuck in the shitty district.

It frightened him.

Pushing the thought away Wikus turned over and slept some more. It was a next day problem, for the time being he could just sleep and rest his body.

"Happy wakings, Mr. Wikus!"

Apparently, it was the next day.

The human pried his eyes open as the young prawn stayed at a respectable distance.

"Did you dream well?"

Wikus scoffed to himself as he righted himself up. He had no dreams period but he supposed it could count considering the other options.

"Yeah, you?"

Maybe it was politeness that made him ask that or to get the eerie silence of the ship to disappear as he inspected his body.

Oliver's chatter fell on deaf ears as Wikus looked over his left hand. The bleeding around his lower arm had stopped but continued towards his shoulder. Fuck, it hurt. Sharp spikes and ridges rubbed underneath his sore skin, making it red and irritated.

He didn't try and touch it, screaming from the pain wasn't something he wanted to do right after waking up. Or in front of the kid.

Only after a bucket was placed in front of him did Wikus stop.

"Drink," Christopher grumbled as he leaned again the nearest wall opposite of the human.

Wikus told himself he was drinking because he was dehydrated, not because he was intimidated. He struggled to lift the half-full bucket to his dry lips as he gulped down the liquid.

After taking his fill he set it down, steadily staring at the large prawn.

The tension in the room went unnoticed by Oliver who was finishing up sharing his dream of a sentient can of cat food which wanted to eat him.

Wikus didn't respond but did purse his lips at Christopher to get him say something.

"We shouldn't waste anymore time."

And Wikus agreed with that but he had better ways to spend his suffers than being looked down upon.

He leaned and patted the floor in front of himself and Oliver. "Then you better join us."

Oliver giggled. "Yes! Come join us, Father!"

Wikus kept a straight face as he watched Christopher huff and sag his shoulders as he joined the two on the floor.

Arms still crossed Christopher glared. He had no interest in playing the human's petty game but with his son present he didn't have time to be difficult.

"Alright, what I have so far is that we get some weapons, storm MNU in the middle of the night, get the fuel, and go up into your ship to fix me," Wikus spat out all at once.

Christopher's eyes were lidded with distaste. "And with what money could we buy these weapons?"

"Well, I outlined everything," Wikus shrugged. He had only come up with the plan the night before, of course there would be bugs.

"We just need to fill in the blanks."

"The gangs won't be of much help."

"Wait, really? Even if we have money?"

Christopher nodded. "From what I've heard you have a bounty on you which they won't be able to resist. If I go they'll most likely backstab me and cut me up."

Wikus was starting to regret having Oliver to stay with them as the thought of having someone's father die in such a way unsettled him.

"Are there no other prawns hiding weapons around here? I doubt you're the only one," the human mused.

"They all keep to themselves, and do you really think they'd just give us weapon?"

"Well, if we succeed there's a chance they get to go home." Wikus made himself focus on Christopher's people. As talking of nothing but himself would probably make the prawn question his loyalty to the suicide mission.

"Many of the others have lost hope and have accepted their lives on this planet." There was a subtle sadness to his clicks that Wikus caught.

"Then it's just us then."

Christopher glanced at Wikus. "There is one more option."

That interested the hybrid. "What?" His human hand mindlessly touching the stubble on his chin.

"We could ask the activists for assistance."

Christopher wasn't surprised to see the human bolt up from where he was sitting.

" _Fuck_ no!" Wikus cursed, he gave up on trying to censor himself in front Oliver. He'd deal with it later.

"Calm yourself—,"

"I am not working with _those_ people!" He yelled, flailing his arms for emphasis. He worked at MNU long enough to see how much the equal rights groups hated them. He had had his fair share of issuing restraining orders on those who threatened him with physical violence over his profession.

"In case you haven't noticed having this fucking hand isn't gonna make them sympathize with me!"

"Worked on me."

Wikus tripped over his words as Christopher sat unamused. _Motherfucker._

"What–whatever, you have a reason to at least try," Wikus pointed at Oliver who was fiddling with his fingers as he watched Wikus calm down. At least volume wise. "They don't, once they find out I'm involved they'll fuck me over."

"Not if I tell them our...less than perfect plan."

Wikus crossed his arms, scowling at Christopher. "And you really think this'll work?"

The alien nodded. "I would not attempt it if there was no chance of success." The alien rights activists had been a big help the past concerning medical supplies and rations.

The human couldn't really argue with that. Christopher seemed sure of his suggestion and it wasn't as if there was another option.

Worse case scenario he dies and the prawns are stuck on Earth.

His eyes gave off a feeling of helplessness as he slumped back unto the floor. Oliver scooted back over to his friend with delight, giving comforting pets to his mutating hand. Wikus didn't jerk away and just sighed.

"Fine, let's do it."

Christopher exhaled with relief. He was hoping that the one person who knew his way around the large facility would join him. There would be no time to try and maneuver the maze of rooms and hallways.

"I'll recruit help once night falls, in the meantime you'll stay in the ship." Christopher rose to his feet, stepping back towards the ladder. "We cannot risk you being seen before we execute the plan."

He had nothing else to say and made his way out of the hatch.

Wikus continued to sit. God, he was getting a headache.

"Got anymore food, kid?"

Oliver hopped up. "Yes, we have a few cans of cat food!" The young prawn quickly ran out of the ship, not missing one rung of the ladder.

Once Wikus was alone he closed his eyes. In defeat, perhaps?

He flexed his prawn hand, feeling how strange and foreign its movement was. _So Christopher pities me 'cause of this?_ Having anyone's pity was enough to damage Wikus' self-worth but with Christopher's it didn't.

Maybe it was because Christopher hated him. Seeing as they had been at odds for the past week. It could be called hesitantly giving sympathy and the fact that it seemed to cause Christopher turmoil made Wikus chuckle. That probably why.

Content with the answer Wikus greeted Oliver who was struggling to carry two cans of food down.

At least there was one upside to being grounded in an alien ship.

()()()

Christopher roamed around his home, peeking out of cracks and crevices. Checking for any structural weaknesses or MNU soldiers.

It was mostly an excuse to have a moment alone.

While he remained cool and collected on the outside his mind as racing. Christopher was forever grateful to whichever god was listening and allowed Wikus to agree to his suggestion.

There was no clear-cut way to know for sure that the activists would help. He hadn't so much as spoken to them since they were placed in the district.

Considering he had not been out of the district in so long, since his last escapade that ended with a chopper searching for him, he needed information on the outside world.

He made sure to make minimal noise as he went next door.

"Tom?" He clicked quietly, rapping on the thin door once.

"Christopher?" The blue and green alien pried his door open slightly, antennas twitching from confusion.

"We need to speak."

They exchanged no other words as Tom silently invited Christopher in, peering outside for any eyes on them.

"What-what is it?"

"Who is leading the equal rights groups right now?"

Tom inclined his head. "Why?"

"Tom, please."

"Okay, okay." The smaller prawn stepped closer, lowering himself in volume. "The groups have gotten smaller over the last, what, twenty earth years? Which, uh, shouldn't surprise you, so a lot of the old ralliers have either died or left."

Christopher could feel with other's paranoia rising as they kept their eyes on the lone window and door.

"I don't know their names but I could find out by, um, sundown."

"I'd appreciate that greatly, Tom," Christopher confided, placing a supporting hand on his shoulder.

"Does this have anything to do with the human in your, what, basement?"

Christopher flinched. "How did you–?"

"Pretty sure anyone could smell and _hear_ him from a mile away," Tom huffed, shuffling his hands nervously.

Christopher hoped now that Wikus was confined in the ship it would make his presence easy to ignore. Luckily enough humans traveled through that the others remained ignorant.

"Thank you again, Tom."

"Don't, don't thank me just yet," Tom crooned.

While his friend was cowardly by nature he was extremely efficient at sneaking about. Playing dumb and scuffling around with the other workers kept him alive this long. And being paranoid 95% of the time helped his as well.

Christopher showed himself out, leaving Tom to do what he does.

He prayed that his trust was not misplaced as he checked on Wikus and his child.

Rather than join in their juvenile game of wars and thumbs Christopher decided to spend the day observing.

Be it workers scurrying around for food, others leaving or coming home, or helicopter blades whipping in the air.

No one would notice his sudden change in routine, would they? The last thing he wanted was attention being brought upon him when he was so close to getting home. He couldn't risk getting sloppy.

Christopher whirred to himself and shook his head. Hanging around Tom for long periods of time had some side effects.

None of which he hoped was permanent.

()()()

"Once Tom arrives I need both of you to stay hidden."

"Wait, don't you trust this guy?" Wikus snorted, wishing he could stretch out his tired body. Thinking of the tearing afterwards made him sit still.

"I do, but I can't have you scaring him off."

"What–!"

"And I need Oliver to watch you."

The youngling chipped with eagerness. "I get to egg-sit Mr. Wikus!"

The human ignored the child as he glared at the parent. "Whatever, I don't care," he complied, trudging over to and down the hatch with Oliver quickly following.

Christopher's anxiety lessened but didn't fully dissipate. Keeping tabs on the life outside the district had gotten harder and tricker over the years. Up until then he rarely even thought about going outside the walls.

His antennas twitched as he saw movement from the outside.

"Chri-Christopher!"

He didn't answer as came through the door without invitation.

"Were you successful?"

Tom gave chirp of affirmation. "Yes, I found out that two humans are leading the groups. Very, very small groups."

"Do you know their names or locations?"

"The last ones, uh, Synman and Fle-Fletcher. They're working in a building not too far from here."

"Where?"

"You remember the meat shop, right? It's, uh, a little past it, with a lot of windows—you can't miss it."

"And you didn't tell anyone who wanted to know?"

The smaller prawn creaked his head towards the door. "No, no one knows." He glanced at Christopher.

"Are you, um, escaping?" The last word was whispered, complete with Tom hunching closer.

"I suppose you could say that."

And they left it at that. Christopher handed over Tom's usual payment of a few cans of cat food before sending him on his way.

Satisfied that his business was finished without a hitch Christopher retreated into the ship.

"No, no, scissors beats paper," Wikus mumbled, gently pretending to cut Oliver's splayed hand with his index and middle finger.

"Oh, okay!" Oliver swayed back and forth, eager to win the next match.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot," the human started, making sure to throw out his choice last to give the child the win.

Choosing rock Oliver playfully bashed Wikus' scissors, clicking happily.

"Again again!"

Wikus chuckled and brought his hand up again but caught sight of Christopher. The rematch would have to wait.

He turned Oliver's attention to his father who greeted him.

"How'd it go?" Wikus inquired, it wasn't the worse case scenario considering Christopher was still alive and that was enough.

"We have names and the location. We will leave tonight."

"What—tonight?" Wikus stuttered. He assumed they'd wait until they had a better grasp of who they were dealing with.

He was answered with a nod. "Yes, we have no time to waste. The longer we wait the greater our chances of failure will be," Christopher explained, anxiously holding on to a rudder of the ladder. 

"How do we know they won't fill me full of holes the second they spot me?" Wikus whined while wobbling to his feet, nervously clutching his jacket.

"What makes you think I would let them?"

Wikus pursed his lips and looked to the side. "I-i don't know, we haven't exactly been on the best terms since the start of this..." He knew his argument was lacking but his fears were still there. While Christopher had not done anything warranting doubt the threat of being ditched or killed scared him greatly.

The tall alien marched over, leaving a few feet between them.

"I need you alive or else we're stuck on this planet," Christopher proclaimed, "and you need me or else." He didn't go into detail and pointing towards Wikus' hidden three-fingered hand.

The hybrid shied away, holding his mutating hand defensively. It was surprising to see how mentally prepared Christopher was. He supposed it was better to have only one person be emotionally wrecked than two.

Seeing how Christopher was waiting for an answer Wikus waved his hand dismissively. "I-i got you, okay? Let's just get this over with."

His less than enthusiastic response didn't quell Christopher's concern but the prawn accepted it regardlessly.

They had under 6 hours before sunrise and neither knew how long convincing the activists could take.

Neither spoke as they left the ship, the seriousness of the situation setting in. Even Oliver stayed quiet.

Exiting the shack Wikus kept a question on his tongue, glancing at the small prawn. Was he coming with them?

Luckily he watched as Christopher led his child towards another home.

Waiting patiently outside Wikus continued to scan the district. He knew prawns and soldiers considered being active during daylight but it didn't stop him from being suspicious. Even if his one form of protection was only a few feet away.

A sharp whistle drew his attention to Christopher who crept over silently.

"Tom will watch him for the time being." His clicks were low as to draw minimal attention.

Wikus nodded following Christopher's lead towards the edge of the district, wincing as they maneuvered through trash piles and avoided bonfires signifying groups of workers or gangs.

He prayed to no one in particular that the activists would assist them. That the whole thing won't be for nothing or end in disaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk why this took so long to make-OH WAIT it was life. jfc ive never been so busy, hopefully itll never happen again. (┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻ Well, enough of that bullshit, ive put more thought into the story, since the movie never really goes into detail about the Poleepkwa race I get the pleasure of doing my own thing~ I wont spoil anything though (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ also imma be adding more references from other District 9 fanfics, be it society structures or my favorite quotes so if youve read almost every fanfic yay~


	5. Activists

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry for any missed typos, ill get to them soon

Wikus huffed heavily as he clutched his chest to calm his burning lungs. They had been running for almost 10 minutes straight, longer than Wikus had ever done since getting out of grade school.

Dodging spotlights, gangs, and soldiers proved to be more stressful than he imagined. Luckily Christopher hadn't broken his promise of protecting him, dragging the hybrid if he ever got too winded.

After gaining a few miles they slowed down significantly to catch their breaths.

Christopher focused on finding the meat shop he had bartered at many times in the past. He prayed that they hadn't moved or shut down, it was his only landmark in a place he wasn't at all familiar with. The fact that the streets were quiet but bright didn't help either.

Hiding behind parked cars and going through ally ways if the prawn sensed someone approaching took up a great amount of their recon time.

"I swear, you're doing this to torture me," Wikus wheezed, breathing heavily.

Christopher huffed. "Is it my fault you're physically unfit?"

The human glared at the back of the alien's head as they shuffled their way down a dim street. "I'm going to assume you mean the hand and not me specifically."

The side eye he got in return made Wikus flare-up in silent anger. Of all the intelligent life forms he got stuck with one that had sass.

He didn't speak again and concentrated on breathing so he didn't pass out once they arrive at the center.

Christopher scanned the area, body language showing he was on high alert. They had to be only a few blocks away from the building, any farther and they could run into more populated areas.

And that's one thing Wikus noticed. They were in the less savory parts of the city. Granted, downtown wasn't exactly the best place to live but where they were headed was filled with run down businesses and empty lots.

The activists could have thought that having their headquarters be somewhere unpleasant might lessen the chances of being discovered.

People fighting for the rights of others shouldn't feel the need to hide. Unfortunately, Wikus knew many of them were extremists, starting riots and blowing up shit.

He supposed the saying was true: a few bad apples fuck over the bunch.

He shook his head, had he been away from society for so long that he forgot how common human quotes go?

"Wikus, keep up."

The hybrid snapped out of his thoughts as Christopher waited at a curb, eyes on him.

He didn't answer and ran up to the prawn. Christopher luckily stayed quiet and lead Wikus down another bend.

Wikus' little hesitations and selfish fears were beginning to irritate him. Yet he couldn't actually bring himself to hate the human. Even after all everything he did.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the man was weak when it came to himself. Add his family into the mix and he became one track minded and strongwilled—to an extent.

There was also the fact that his body was changing. Christopher couldn't imagine the pain and had to give the human some credit for being able to even walk.

So on the grounds of sympathy and respect Christopher kept his smart comments to himself.

His own little distraction almost made him miss the meat shop, still running across the street.

He motioned to an exhausted Wikus. "We're close," Christopher chattered, nudging the hybrid's human shoulder.

Wikus let out a puff of air, relieved they were almost at their destination. The darkness wasn't going to last forever and he'd rather be torn apart by prawns than be crowded around by people who caught him in daylight.

That was the other thing. He felt so exposed. And there was nothing to comfort him. Bones and skin ached, lungs burned, and his legs were close to giving out.

And he was terrified.

While in the district he felt a bit safer, prawns ignored him as long as he didn't interact with them. Out in the real world he felt...even more helpless.

And no matter how much he hugged himself the feeling never lessened.

"Wikus."

A small whisper he wasn't sure was real brought his attention to Christopher.

"What?"

"Calm yourself, your anxiety is overwhelming me."

Wikus pouted. "No one told you to acknowledge it."

His childish rebuttal made Christopher roll his eyes but it was a desired reaction. Funneling the human's sadness into annoyance made it a bit easier for the prawn to concentrate on other things. How a human can radiate such sorrow was lost to him.

While trekking down roads and parks the two would engage in meaningless arguments, perhaps to lighten the heavy mood and fill the silence.

It wasn't long before a building with large windows came into their view.

A great percentage of the windows were broken or covered with boards of wood. The front entrance locked by a large lock and chain, police lines were strewn about the area.

Wikus huffed angrily. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" His quiet tone didn't lead to Christopher backhanding him for being loud but it did earn him a stern look.

"Calm—"

"Tell me to calm down _one_ more time, Christopher, and I'll do the exact opposite!" The human hissed, taking out his frustration on the concrete sidewalk.

Ignoring Wikus' temper tantrum Christopher looked around the building. Tom's information had never been false and he highly doubted that this was the time it would be.

His antenna twitched. There was something going on inside. It was better than nothing, and he shrugged to himself.

"Wikus, follow me."

The human paused in his act of tossing a trash can, placed it down, and innocently walked over to the alien.

"What?" His tone was defeated and breathless.

"Let us try the back, we'll search the whole building before giving up."

The hybrid grimaced. Looking up and down in a seemingly abandoned building didn't sound productive. But he didn't want all his physical suffering to be for nothing and to go back empty-handed.

He assumed his position next to the tall alien, suppressing the need to yawn from sleepiness.

The two maneuvered through a cluttered ally way, making as little noise as possible.

Arriving at a larger back ally the two spotted a white van parked near the back entrance of the center.

"A vehicle, a good sign," Christopher stated, trotting over with Wikus not too far behind.

The back door appeared unlocked, adding to Christopher's eagerness. It, however, did the opposite for Wikus. White vans were already unnerving.

He didn't think twice when quickly grabbing the prawn's hand which almost rapped against the door. "What are you doing?!"

Christopher ripped his hand out of the human's, tilting his head sharply. "Knocking."

"No-no-no, I don't think you should just do that without some kinda protection. These guys could be nuts," Wikus grumbled, eyeing the door.

"Their primary goal is the freedom of my people, why would them harm me?"

"We don't even know if it's the activists in there! It might be violent hobos or some shit."

"So you _don't_ want to knock," Christopher spat as if it was a declaration, cocking his hips to the side as the human groaned.

"No-! Christopher–"

"I am quite sure entering without alerting the occupants would result in death, do you have a better idea?"

"I never said that we should just bust in, you dick," Wikus pointed an accusing finger up at the prawn's face. He bundled himself up further in his tattered jacket. To protect himself? He doubted that thin, ripped fabric would be any help.

"There is no other option, and I highly suggest we go with the first choice."

"I'm just fucking saying it'd be better if—

"Wikus, let me—"

"Quit standing so close to the door—!"

"Could both of you shut up?"

The at-odds duo paused their adult conversation to stare at the opened door.

A short woman had her eyes squinted, frowning due to being woken by the loud whispers. With a small gun in her shaky hand the woman stepped forward. She was dressed in just a t-shirt and jeans, sneakers not tied in her hast to open the door.

Christopher and Wikus peered at each other, not making any sudden movements. The hybrid was eternally grateful that his prawn hand was already hidden away under his jacket.

Wikus, of course, didn't recognize her but her accent was that of an American. Great.

"I'm not," she looked at Wikus.

"Afraid to," then at Christopher.

"Shoot..." back to Wikus.

"You..." and to Christopher again.

"Dea–dead."

The woman slowly lowered her gun as she kept her eyes on the two. She blinked multiple times, a test to see if she was dreaming.

Afraid their presence had broken her Wikus went to say something when her hand shushed him. She made a come hither motion and beckoned them to follow her into the building.

The prawn and hybrid silently walked behind the woman, exchanging looks of suspicion. However, her firearm was lowered so their uneasiness did as well.

The inside looked to be a reception room, with desks towards the front and staircases that spiraled to the other floors.

It was about as wrecked and disheveled as the outside, debris everywhere and chairs tossed.

Of course, the lights were out but the woman seemed to know where she was going regardlessly.

Shuffling carefully towards the back of one set of stairs she opened up another door which was barely hanging onto its hinges.

She still didn't speak, instead stepping over to a small bookcase. She motioned her head towards the door as she slid the bookcase over, keeping her grunts of effort low.

Christopher was the first to tentatively walk down the flight of stairs with Wikus not too far behind him.

The human did his best to keep his hands to himself, the small space and darkness making him nervous. Settling for hugging himself Wikus found that the stairs descended longer than he originally thought.

Once they finally reach the bottom, the room still dark as hell.

The underlying fear of the whole thing turning out to be a trap was still there but they had come too far. It was all or nothing at that point.

Christopher stayed close to Wikus as they heard rapid footsteps get closer and closer.

The woman flipped on a light switch, zooming past the two as the large basement's lights flickered on.

It still wasn't completely lit but they could at least see.

Crumbling white walls were green with decay, pieces of furniture, and random debris placed in piles to create the illusion of tidiness. The empty beer bottles and food containers insinuated that she had been living there for a while. And where there was food there were rats.

Wikus silently wished they were still in the dark.

"Hello, hello!"

The woman's outburst took both Christopher and Wikus by surprise, the hybrid inching over to hide behind the large alien.

"I am Patrica Fletcher, alien biologist, Extraterrestrial rights activist, American representative— well, _former_ representative." She held out her hand, not taking it to heart when neither of her guests shook it.

"Biologist?" Wikus probed, not moving from his spot. Knowing first hand what the scientists at MNU did being around anyone in the science field made him anxious. Thankfully Christopher seemed to notice and slightly put out his arm defensively.

Patricia didn't notice however and continued. "Yes, when they," she gestured to Christopher. "-arrived I was one of the first to start studying, well, basically anything and everything about them with what MNU was." She pushed her red hair behind her ear as she rambled on. "Of course that was the first 10 years and I've been out of the loop ever since."

Relieved to hear that she hadn't been involved with current organization Wikus let out a breath he had not realized he was holding.

"So what are you two here for? Medical support?"

Christopher sent a glare at Wikus who snorted at the question.

She leaned in a bit, covering the side of her mouth while looking at Wikus. "I don't think I can help whatever is ailing _you,_ however."

Wikus blinked.

"Wh-what?"

"I watch the news, Mr. Van de Merwe," Patricia sassed.

Wikus didn't know what was worse. The fact that she thought he had sexual intercourse with prawns or that she knew of him.

Christopher didn't budge, keeping the human from going into a panic attack with his calm composure. "We're here for your help on other matters."

Patricia took her focus off of Wikus, much to his relief. "Such as?"

For a woman in her late 60s living in an unstable building she had an aura of proper-ness about her. Wikus hadn't seen her around helping out the aliens as of late, then again he hadn't been paying attention to much of anything not regarding his life.

"We have a plausible plan of getting off Earth."

To her credit, she didn't freak out—at least physically.

"What?" Patricia squeaked, looking back and forth at Christopher and Wikus with wide eyes.

"We have—"

The squeal that emanated from her mouth made her guests take a cautious step back.

"That's fantastic!" She clapped her hands together excitedly. "And you want _me_ to help!"

The aging woman didn't take note of Christopher's questioning glance towards Wikus which was met with a shrug.

"Then all of you will be free of Earth!"

Christopher's antenna twitched as he decided to cut her off there. "It won't be at all that simple, Ms. Fletcher." His tone was subdued, he had already come to terms with the possible fate of those left on the alien planet.

Patricia's hype lessened, her fists clenched with hope loosened and her arms slowly came down to her sides. "What–what do you mean?"

"Escape has always been risky, even moreso over the last 20 earth years. We have finally have a real chance of getting home," Christopher paused, and Wikus could see his antenna droop sadly. "But it won't be a full exvacuation. We can't afford that."

As the prawn's clicks slowly trailed off Wikus peered over at Patricia. Her red and grey hair, again, falling over her face in strands, making her appear stressed and overwhelmed.

The hybrid couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Perhaps it was the motherly air about her, what with her over enthusiasm and sass. Seeing her disheartened wasn't pleasent. 

Breathing in and out she walked over to a lone table and took a seat. With her head in her hands she looked like an esasperated parent. Had the interaction not have had a serious atmosphere Wikus would've chuckled to himself.

"Christ, I–i worked so hard trying help all of you," Patricia motioned towards the alien. "I just don't know if I can do this for only _you_ get to safety." Her voice was shaky and quiet.

She had spent most of her life trying to help his people through their oppression and to see her close to breaking down at the thought of still not being able to do that made Christopher instantly sympathize with her.

He stalked over to the table slowly with Wikus not to far behind him.

"It is not just me going to get help," Christopher clicked. "I am bringing my son and..." Glancing at Wikus the alien wasn't given a sign to stop speaking.

"And Wikus."

Patricia didn't flinch. Just raised a brow and tilted her head.

"May I ask why?" She already knew that STDs between their species didn't exist, what reason was there for him to come with Christopher?

Not verbally answering Christopher met eyes with Wikus who proceeded to reveal his left hand hiding beneath his large jacket.

Her reaction was comical, complete with a gasp and wide eyes. Patricia couldn't stop staring, she had never heard of such a thing occuring before. Not in the whole span of the aliens inhabiting the district.

Wikus' hand twitched as he felt uncomfortable under the woman's intense stare. He dealt with it, fingers crossed that it would compel Patricia to join them.

The hybrid came out from behind Christopher when she beckoned him to come closer, eyes glued on his mutation.

She tentatively reached out to touch and Wikus didn't shy away, as much he wanted to. Turning over his three fingered hand she crudely inspected it, running fingers over bumps and ridges. Pulling back when a wince or twitch occurred to prevent any pain.

Christopher watched as the human woman innocently looked and touched Wikus, pure wonder in her eyes. It was strange. Wikus didn't seem to be in danger or unwilling so the alien stayed put.

"How–how—?"

Christopher's narration of the events that transpired was quick and to the point. To be able to squeeze less than a week's worth of happenings in a few sentences impressed Wikus. He gave himself credit as his mind was racing faster than it should.

"–MNU has the fuel, Wikus needs to become fully human again, and I need him to navigate the facility."

Wikus wasn't expecting sharp nails to dig into his fingers and gave out a yelp.

Patricia let him snatch his mutating hand back. "Are you seriously going to let _this_ man use you just to get a cure?" She was seething.

"I suppose you could say we're using each other, at this point it a win-win." The use of a human term softened Patricia's demeanor and she let out some tension from her body with a sigh.

Wikus didn't retreat back towards Christopher but he did step to the side. Apparently if you were not 100% for helping out the oppressed life forms you had to take extra precautions when dealing with Ms. Fletcher.

"I'm not going to abandon my people on this planet if that is what you're thinking, Ms. Fletcher." Christopher's words were sincere. "I plan on coming back."

Wikus and Patricia paused.

"For retribution?"

Christopher was eerily silent for a few moments. "I cannot say for sure. We don't typically start wars with non-space faring races but I am not a war tactitian. Anything akin to that is a possibility."

Patricia nodded, understanding what the prawn was saying while it certainly wasn't the same for Wikus.

War? On Earth? He could just see how screwed they were. He had first hand experiences with the alien weapons and if the prawns had anything larger than a handheld gun there was a chance that the earth could be destroyed.

Why Christopher didn't bring it up earlier Wikus didn't know. But he couldn't argue as he never asked.

It increased the amount of fear in his heart, causing it to rise up into his throat. It was a topic for another time however. Wikus knew the large alien wouldn't appreciate it if he interjected with more questions.

"Should you help us there's a chance that that can help your race in such a case. Proving your race isn't _all_ oppressive is a less than great way of showing your worth in terms of intergalactic relations."

Wikus prayed that his flabbergasted expression didn't make Christopher's words seem like a load of bullshit to Patricia. There was more depth to the plan than he realized.

Rather than being turned off from the plan she nodded, rising out of her seat with her hands flat on the table.

"If it'll save your people then I'd be happy to help," she announced, fire in her eyes.

Christopher clicked in acknowledgement. He couldn't describe the amount of relief he felt. Originally he expected more trouble and arguement. His previous conversations with Wikus had set the bar low. Very low.

He flexed his gills as he thought over their next move. There was only more thing they had to accomplish.

"I was informed that there was _two_ humans leading your activist group."

The transition of Patricia's expression came and went so fast that it could have not even happened. Her eyes widened and her smile became a straight line.

Wikus caught Christopher inquisitive look. Had something happened? Was it a touchy subject?

Before they could ask anything the rumbling of a vehicle echoed through the drafty basement.

Patricia's shaken look got more intense. That spelled trouble. Christopher's eyes hooded with suspicion.

"I will be right back." She dashed up the stairs, looking worried yet didn't seem afraid. The fact that she didn't draw her gun similar to how she met Christopher and Wikus showed that it was possibly Synman.

That calmed the aliens nerves but he stayed alert. As for the human smothering in his own fear he was looking around nervously. He had no fingernails to nibble on so he settled on lightly chewing on his thumb.

Wikus took a seat and listened intently to anything upstairs. It was quiet, he couldn't tell if that was good or bad.

The whole situation and it's possible outcomes had made Wikus focus on everything other than his arm. Now that there was time to catch his breath he felt shots of pain run up his arm again.

Not voicing his discomfort, particularly to not attract Christopher's attention, Wikus just nonchalantly swayed his arm. He couldn't press into the surrounding skin or else it would tear and do more harm than good.

Nerves were on fire and it was slowly becoming unbearable. Wikus prayed that Patricia had some type of painkillers on hand. Should Synman deem him and Christopher worthy of their services.

Flexing his prawn hand Wikus kept an eye on Christopher. Noticing the alien's tense body language as he stared at the stairs.

Stressing over Patricia's answer was enough for Wikus' blood. Never had he been so afraid of someone's words that could affect him. Not even when a superior beckoned him to their office for a discussion. Having to sit, wait, and have to go through the whole thing was hell.

Christopher's antenna only twitched slightly as he heard Wikus groaned lowly. It wasn't as if he could bring any sort of relief to the human, the hybrid already demonstrated his disdain for his people, with Oliver being an exception. The last thing Christopher wanted was for them to get into an altercation and hinder their chances with Synman.

So he kept his distance, arms crossed and back straight. Ignoring Wikus' pained sounds proved to be difficult but achievable. Christopher maintained a stoic demeanor, making the atmosphere get heavier and heavier.

Both Wikus and Christopher looked forward to Patricia returning. Mostly so her cheery disposition could lighten up the mood.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omfg i am SO sorry for the wait, Xmas cards kicked my ass (drawing in different art styles was a mistake) That and the chapter as a whole was a pain to write, luckily im outta my slump now and hopefully the next chapter will be up in less than a week o(╥﹏╥)o (i dont want this to drag out so next chapter will be Synman and gathering supplies, then the next will be set at MNU) fingers crossed i'll be able to follow through, HAPPY HOLIDAYS ♪┏ ( ･o･) ┛♪┗ (･o･ ) ┓♪┏(･o･)┛♪ - Ken


	6. More Planning

Wikus held his breath as footsteps began to descend down the stairs. They weren't hurried or violent so he took it as a good sign. Patricia came into view, a small smile still on her face as she led another person to the basement.

She was significantly taller than her Patricia, dark in complexion and hair braided behind her head. She had glaring eyes and a tattoo beneath one on her cheek. Wikus couldn't place her age but assumed it was in the same ballpark as the older woman.

Time seemed to freeze.

She looked familiar. Synman? Something Synman.

Wikus had seen her bounty a few years back when an attack on MNU cost them two vehicles and three soldiers.

Of course, he had never had the displeasure of interacting with her on that level. However, the tattoo on her cheek was quite recognizable.

A blatant frown on her face contrasted with her partner's smile. A very strange combination but Wikus couldn't bring himself to judge.

Silence filled the room after the sounds of heavy footsteps on the creaky stairs ceased.

The tall woman, Synman, kept her eyes on Wikus. Distrust was the main emotion emanating from her as her eyes narrowed.

Combat boots stomped across the floor as Synman casually took a seat from across Wikus. He managed to stay still and not run away in fear.

Everything about her reminded him of grade school, terrifying girls with looks that could kill.

Wikus didn't try to break eye contact, afraid even a twitch of a finger could set her off.

Patricia's presence put him at ease, as did Christopher's, yet Wikus still found himself fearing a gunshot to the head.

"So," Synman started, voice gravelly and commanding. "You're the prawn fucker."

That took Wikus by immediate surprise. He had no correct reaction to it. You'd think I'd be more prepared for this shit after all the media's slander.

Patricia gasped and smacked Synman's shoulder lightly. "Amahle, please!"

Christopher looked away, deciding whether or not to chuckle as Wikus glared at him.

"Ignoring _that,_ Amehle has agreed to help us out." Patricia's words were sincere. As Christopher didn't say anything that insinuated that he doubted them Wikus narrowed his eyes.

"I explained everything—"

"That quickly?"

Not taking Wikus' question to heart Patricia simply nodded. "Amehle isn't one for overcomplicating but she understands."

Synman grunts in agreement. "We're going to gather supplies. Both of you will stay here." She didn't move but glanced at Christopher. "You'll go to MNU in the morning, Fletcher and I will escort you to the ship."

Christopher and Wikus assumed that her glances at the two of them were trying to prompt a response and the hybrid spoke first. "Sounds good."

The alien was a tad surprised that Wikus didn't have anything else to say, no questions or outbursts. Of course, he knew that his anxiety was through the metaphorical roof but that never stopped him from yelling at Christopher.

He decided there was nothing really provoking. Sure, Wikus and Synman seemed to be on not so okay terms but it hadn't stopped the woman from contributing to their mission.

Synman rose from her seat and went up the stairs, not before sparing a glare Wikus' way, making him glare back.

Patrica clapped her hands together to signify the end of their discussion.

"That went better than expected."

"She looked like she wanted to gut me," Wikus snorted, all his fear funneling into irritation.

"Ah, but she didn't." The old red head's smile was starting to make Wikus uneasy. "Also it's early morning now so you two obviously can't go back to the district, so you'll have to stay here."

"That is not an issue, Ms. Fletcher," Christopher stated.

"Great, both of you are welcome to sleep in the backrooms and—," she waved her hand. "–this...area. Just don't go anywhere, I feel like I have to say that."

Wikus didn't know if that was a jab at himself or Christopher but he did frown. Having to be alone with the alien for around 30 minutes was enough, the thought of extending the time made Wikus cringe inwardly.

"Don't draw attention to this place and don't kill each other, we'll be back." Her playful tone was misplaced but Wikus didn't have the heart to say so.

Once the scrape of the bookshelf and footsteps ceased Wikus felt himself go on edge again.

And then there was two.

Not making eye contact with Christopher, who knew why, Wikus shuffled his way over to the backrooms Patricia had pointed out. He hadn't slept for hours and he was still physically exhausted from running earlier.

"I'm gonna just get some sleep, wouldn't want to be tired for tonight." He sputtered out his excuse, cowardly keeping his eyes averted.

Maybe he just didn't want to answer any questions Christopher could have had. The prawn seemed to always know the hybrid's emotions and he couldn't have missed the way Wikus was drowning in his own fear. Hell, he had even broken into a sweat.

The alien just tilted his head to the side, questioning the human's behavior, and just gave a nod of understanding.

Wikus closed the door behind him, exhaling hard. There was a hallway only containing a few doors, as busted up as the rest of the building.

He opened the nearest door and smiled sleepily as he spotted a couple of mattresses. The sight of a bed made him unbelievably happy, it was a little sad that a simple cushion was the highlight of his day.

He didn't take off any clothes or make the bed to sleep properly and just flopped unto the mattress. Wikus hoped it would be a dreamless sleep, he wasn't in the mood to be woken up by nightmares.

His soft snores filled the room, his entire body lax and tired.

Anything could be dealt with after he recharged.

()()()

Christopher trilled to himself as he found a lone can of cat food near a box of empty ones.

Knowing that if Patricia were with him she'd given him permission to eat the alien stuffed the can into his mouth and cracked it open.

After eating the contents he carefully placed the can next to the other ones and took a seat at the table.

With Wikus asleep and the other humans gone Christopher was alone with his thoughts.

They obviously went to the safety of his child first. It wasn't that he didn't trust Tom, quite the opposite.

It was that when they left the district he couldn't find it in himself to say goodbye or anything related to the possibility that that was their last interaction.

_"We'll be back, Oliver."_

He groaned, while he didn't think the whole mission was going to end in tragedy he also didn't want to give his son false hope should that be the case.

Hell, he didn't want his last words to his offspring to be lies.

He supposed that gave him more motivation to survive but that didn't lessen his guilt.

Christopher huffed to himself. Perhaps Wikus had the right idea about resting.

Laying his crossed arms on the table Christopher merely closed his eyes. Keeping himself in a position that makes him less susceptible attack was his current top priority.

()()()

"How much would be acceptable?"

Patricia sassily shrugged. "How should I know? I haven't haggled for alien weapons before."

Synman rolled her eyes and tightened her grip on the steering wheel of their van.

After gathering any sort of non-perishable food, cat food, clothing, and hygiene products the two drove over to an empty lot.

Neither of them had personally dealt with the gangs in years but the man in charge still remained. That, however, didn't guarantee anything.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Why?" Synman titled her head in offended confusion.

"It's just that they might be a little more than hostile with us–what with alien rights activists buying alien weapons and all." The redhead awkwardly shrugged again and looked to the side.

"It'll be fine."

"I just feel like we should've bought Mr. Johnson with us," she admitted, fumbling with her fingers nervously.

"And have one of our valuable assets be chopped up and eaten?" Synman narrowed her eyes.

"See, I still think you're lying about that."

"Do you _really_ want to risk that?"

Silence was Patricia's response as she pouted and gave up arguing.

"Didn't you have a few run-ins with them before? You could use your reputation to intimidate them, right?"

Running her hand over her shaved head Synman let out a low sigh. "Destroying their vehicles and stealing meat out of their trucks don't count." She glanced out the window. "It's been a while, hopefully they don't recognize me."

"Thanks to that tattoo of yours good luck." 

Synman scoffed.

"So what're we going to do?"

Synman leaned back into her seat and pulled out a pistol. " _I'm_ going to walk up to the shack where their stash is, hold one of them hostage and hope for the best."

Patricia's brows furrowed. "And what am I going to do?"

"You're going to stay here, keep the engine warm, and wait."

The red head's shaken reaction was expected. "What?! Amehle, that's literal suicide!"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Any other plan at this point is," She scoffed, folding her arms disapprovingly.

Synman was unaffected but waited for her enthusiastic partner to come up with an actual course of action.

"I got it!" With an excited snap of her fingers Patricia opened the glove compartment and dug around until she found some eyeshadow and lipstick.

"Disguise yourself, infiltrate, seduce if necessary, and take two guns," she shoved the makeup in Synman's disgusted face.

"And here I thought you were intelligent."

"Hey! Come on, the percentage of success is _super_ high!"

"That does not sound comforting at all."

"Beauty is pain."

After a short session filled with brushes jabbing eyes and learning how to do bedroom eyes Patricia sent Synman out of the van.

Since she also had to dress the part the tall woman lacked any place to hide a gun, leaving her feeling vulnerable. Luckily she felt safer with a pocket knife hidden in her bra.

Patricia didn't feel particularly confident over her partner's outfit but there wasn't much that could be done. Going around asking for slutty clothing would obviously bring attention to them so a tank top, gym leggings, and flip-flops would have to do.

With any luck, the gangs would ignore her.

"If I'm not back in an hour drive back and finish the mission," Synman stated, tugging at her tight, pathetic excuse for pants.

"Ha! Funny, Amehle."

She got no response as Synman just turned and walked away.

"Amehle? That was a joke, right? Right, Amehle?"

Patricia's worried questions died down into screaming whispers as her fellow activist made her way towards District 9.

()()()

Getting into the district was easier said than done but keeping away from any guards or horny prawns made it less stressful.

All attention in the gang areas were on the betting rings or the most popular prostitutes. Of course, the weaponry wasn't just left unguarded.

A few flirtations here and there and the stash was revealed. Taking out the three men in hand to hand combat with just a small knife was challenging in itself but Synman prided herself on her victory.

She didn't leave unharmed however and had a few bruised ribs and a bleeding eye to show for it. Gathering up whatever two weapons she could carry she wrapped them up in one of the unconscious guard's jacket and headed out.

Loud jeers and cheers muffled her pained groans as she inched her way towards an exit.

No one attempted to take a closer look at her, a simple prostitute who obviously got reprehended.

The thought made her sick but she couldn't complain as that fact managed to get her in and out before any alarm bells went off.

"This plan better fucking work," she grumbled, limping over towards the white van.

()()()

Wikus had no idea how much time had passed since he first passed out. He groggily turned over onto his back and stretched carefully.

While his sleep helped a bit his body was still sore and achy.

Slowly sitting up Wikus pouted to himself and inspected his left arm. His fear of blood loss got worse as he continued to transform. It already hurt like hell for his arm and back, just thinking about his legs and head scared him.

What if he didn't survive the transformation?

He shook his head and laid back down on the cushion, eyes boring holes into the plain ceiling.

Wikus was getting tired of worrying about it, there'd be plenty of time for that on the ship. If they got that far.

He mentally kicked himself, his pessimistic thoughts weren't fixing his mood or his situation.

The hybrid considered himself lucky as the door creaked open.

"Good, you're awake," Patricia stated, wobbling with a heavy box in her hands. She set it down with an exaggerated huff and sat on the floor across from Wikus.

"We got a few supplies for you, we'd hate to have you both starve before getting to their planet." The box contained various not perishable food items, some hygiene products, and clean clothes.

_Let's see how long I'll be able to fit that._ Wikus ignored the negative statement in the back of his head and politely listened to the older woman.

"Amehle wants to speak to you," Patricia's smile never wavered from her face, making her expression the complete opposite of Wikus'.

"Wh-why?" It should've been obvious but Wikus couldn't help but ask, he was already surrounded by people who had less than stellar feelings towards him.

"Heck if I know," she responded with an innocent shrug. Had their previous interaction never happened?

"Good luck," Patricia said, the genuine tone made Wikus uneasy. Synman wouldn't do anything irrational, right?

He steeled himself. Lives were at stake and there was no way Synman would do anything to jeopardize the mission. That and Christopher was only a shout away.

Wikus groaned. As much as he hated it the prawn had gone out of his way to make sure Wikus was safe. He supposed he wasn't really in any debt to the alien as he was getting them the fuel.

That was enough for him. At least for now.

With his mind somewhere else Wikus jumped as the door creaked open the tall woman entered, looking tired and patched up.

Due to the tension in the room Wikus refrained from asking if she was alright. Hell, bringing it up might even worsen their civil conversation.

"Considering your previous profession you've got some experience in politics, right?"

Wikus nodded dumbly, he wasn't expecting the conversation to be on this particular topic.

"Good, then this'll be quick." She absentmindedly picked at a bandage on her forearm, keeping unnerving eye contact with the hybrid. "You're going to set up a relationship with their planet that doesn't involve the Earth's demise."

Wikus thanked God that he wasn't drinking anything as he just ended up choking on the air in his throat.

Synman continued, ignoring Wikus' coughing and hacking. "I know this is a lot but you couldn't have thought that they'd just pick up their people and leave."

Wikus shook his head. "I–i knew it was a possibility but I've been focused on..." He gestured to his prawn hand.

"Regardless, as kind as Christopher is-"

Wikus rolled his eyes. What had the prawn done or said that prompted this? He didn't want to know. They've been butting heads since the beginning and while the alien's actions had been what you can consider kind the prawn himself was irritating to the hybrid. Be it from their usual arguments or Christopher pulling out some therapy shit to throw off Wikus mentally.

"– I doubt he has enough power to sway any declarations of war."

"What makes you think that?" Wikus wasn't defending him, he was genuinely curious. He hadn't given much thought to Christopher's position in terms of rank.

"He was on a ship designed to work on colonizing, if their society is anything like ours they wouldn't send out anyone of extreme importance."

That made sense, at least to Wikus.

"So as much as I hate to say it you're pretty much Earth's only hope of survival." Synman's voice was just dripping with poison. If it was because of Wikus or because of the situation Wikus didn't know.

"So I suggest you have a long, in-depth conversation with Christopher on the ship, you need to be able to understand their society and be respectful."

There was an unsaid insult in there somewhere but Wikus decided against looking into it.

"I know you're under no obligation to do any of this but just try to do your bureaucrat thing – for your family."

Wikus couldn't really argue with that. But did they really have that low of an opinion of him? Hell, out of everyone who worked at MNU he was the tamest— at least compared to fuckers like Koobus.

There was another issue. He could barely handle working with humans, what with his meek demeanor and anxiety. Working with a species that had been oppressed by his— god, the thought of it made him want to curl into a ball.

It was all a lot to take in and yet Synman kept her usual composure, still slouching and boring holes into Wikus.

"I'll leave you to think all this over. It's only 2, get something to eat and take a shower." She left it at that, heading for the door, not sparing another glance.

Wikus was left to stew in the info dump that could affect everyone on Earth.

He scoffed to himself, as if Christopher would ever let anything akin to that happen. Yet he couldn't shake off the thought that the prawn might screw him over in the end. By the time he's cured he'll be on their turf.

He shook his head and grabbed a set of clothes, heading to the shower room for perhaps his last cleaning session.

()()()

"The weapons you got are more than adequate," Christopher chirped, checking out one of the guns in his hands. He was thankful Synman didn't bring back anything too cumbersome or overly destructive.

"Good, I'd hate to have to send her back there," Patricia teased, but still earning a glare from Synman who was cautiously sitting on the stairs nursing her fresh bruises.

Christopher laid the weapon back on the table and went back to finishing a slab of meat. Looking at all the supplies given to him for their trip back was surreal. He couldn't tell if the two humans could see his excitement but he didn't stop himself from trilling.

It was actually going to happen.

The full force of everything they were going to do that night hit him. Gods, the exciting and terrifying aspects of it all made it difficult to place a specific emotion on the matter.

All Christopher knew was that his mind was racing a million miles a minute.

"Once Wikus is outta the shower we can get into the meat of things," Patricia stated, stretching out her arms before crossing them onto the table.

Christopher nodded, finishing up his meal with vigor. He almost felt guilty, filling himself up while his child was left with Tom. The alien knew that even trying to go back would instantly jeopardize the mission it didn't stop the meat from tasting sour in his mouth.

He didn't have to focus on it for long as Wikus entered the room, free of grime and dirt.

The human's skin near his emerging exoskeleton was red from irritation and the fear of tearing the skin up further was evident from how long Wikus' shower took.

With his hair still damp Wikus cautiously made his way over to a box of supplies. He was grateful that everyone in the room didn't really pay much attention to his entrance.

Surveying the food in the open box Wikus had the choice of cat food or actual human food. He frowned. The last thing he needed was to be further thought of as less human by eating what they eat in front of Patricia and Synman.

While he would never admit that train of thought to anyone he grabbed a can of chicken soup. He opened it up with his prawn hand and began to drink it straight from the can.

"Feeling better?"

He nodded to the red head's genuine question. Out of all the things provided to him he was eternally grateful for the toothbrush left for him. Even though he took extra precautions to no accidentally bump a tooth out of place.

"We should leave at around 11 or 12 tonight, it'd be easier to deal with the people left on the night shift and any important personnel will be away or too groggy to properly do anything. Be it for a short time." Syman didn't move from her seat at the base of the decaying stairs.

"Then Fletcher and I will clear a path to the ship," The tall woman stopped sharpening her knife, leaving that to inspect her various handguns.

"We'll need cover for when we head to my shack to get my son and our ship," Christopher's antennas twitched anxiously.

"You have _another_ ship?"

Wikus snorted to himself but didn't say anything. Looking at Patricia's mesmerized expression as Christopher explained how he hid an entire ship underneath his shack was amusing enough to make Wikus chuckle under his breath.

Synman seemed as uninterested as ever. How such a seemingly empathetic person worked as an activist Wikus had no idea.

"We should be able to accomplish all of this easily then." Synman's pure confidence in her statement was almost enough to make Wikus believe it.

Christopher was already beaming with optimism, perhaps due to his child and his people's lives being on the line.

But Wikus . . . what did he have to lose? Was everything really going to go back to normal after he changed back?

He shook his head and chastised himself for such negative thoughts. His wife was all the motivation he needed. Regardless of her unable to help him in the situation.

"So we have a few hours to kill–"

"Go rest," Synman cut off her partner's sentence, which undoubtedly would've ended with her trying to get them all to something. Be it games or watching movies on their small video player.

"Amehle, I'm not _that_ old—"

"Sleep deprivation won't be the cause of mission failure. Get some sleep."

Patricia's face matched her wispy hair as she conceded and made her way to the back rooms. Her little grumbles didn't go unheard by Synman who just smirked and went back to counting up their ammo.

With her bubbly personality gone from the room again Wikus was left with tension all around him.

It wasn't as if he could just engage in conversation with either of the two. God, being in a room with people he was on not so great terms with did not help with his anxiety.

"So-"

Synman cold and sharp voice made Wikus jump slightly, still clutching his half-empty can.

"-You never actually said you _didn't_ fuck any of them."

Synman let out a short, genuine laugh Wikus choked and coughed on whatever was in his mouth.

"I did not have sex with a fucking—"Wikus didn't react to the quick glance Christopher sent his way. "—alien! And I'm fucking married!"

He didn't care that he was being loud. Where did she get off on saying that?

"Like that's stopped anyone," she said with an amused shrug.

Wikus stood up, no way was he just going to take this. He made his way to the back rooms, hoping to have some kind of privacy as he fumed from embarrassment.

Jesus, nightfall couldn't come fast enough.

()()()   
  
   

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY SHIT WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?! Fuck, it's been like, foreverrrr I'm SO sorry for the long ass wait (◕︵◕) fingers crossed that I'll be able to get back into the swing of things and that a month-long wait won't happen anytime soon ಥ_ಥ Next chapter's gonna just basically be them getting into MNU and HOPEFULLY it'll be done quickly, what with exams being over and me being well rested for the first time in forever. ┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘ (im gonna start adding more art in chapters, not cuz i'm narcissistic or anything(⊙︿⊙✿), describing things paragraph after paragraph just drags things along lmao im not htat great at it) ~ Ken


	7. The Ship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (like I'm pretty sure everyone here has seen the fooking movie so I'm just gonna cut straight to the chase, mostly cuz it's my favorite part in this scene)

"Fuck!" Christopher squawked.

The MNU soldier exploded in a rain of blood and bones.

"I thought you said _not_ to kill them!"

"He shot at me!" Wikus cried, checking for any wounds caused by the soldier's bullets.

Christopher just responded with a roll of the eyes as they stormed into the room.

Shouting at the unarmed personnel to leave Wikus jammed in the code to enter the lab where he was taken before.

The thought made him feel a pang of worry but with a gun in his alien hand the feeling quickly left.

Christopher didn't say anything responding to Wikus' random orders and hollow threats as they stormed into the lab.

"What is this place?"

Wikus was already on edge being back in the labs, to go through the whole thing again to explain sounded like hell.

"Don't worry about that." He hoped the threat of gunfire would be enough to distract Christopher and have him focus on the mission.

"What do they do here?" The alien continued to glance around the lab, curious as to what the whole floor is for. There weren't any weapons as far as he could see, what else could the humans be doing?

Wikus ignored his question again, instead asking for the prawn to help him search for the fluid.

It didn't take long for Wikus to find it inside a glass container. Using the butt of the alien gun shattering the glass was easy.

"Chris, I got it. Let's go, let's go!" The human held the fluid tightly in his hand, resisting the urge to wave it back and forth victoriously.

Wikus began to panic silently as the alien stepped towards a corpse.

With sad eyes and chirps realization dawned on Christopher- the lab was for experimenting on his people.

A wave of emotions hit Christopher at once. Anger, sadness, empathy, disgust– Gods, he was distraught.

All sound seemed to block out as he continued to study the body. By the looks of it the alien went out in the most gruesome of ways.

"L-listen, Christopher, I–i had no idea they were doing this— until they brought me in here the other day— I swear to you, I didn't know..." Wikus didn't know what else to say. Had he known beforehand would he have done something?

His excuses died down as Christopher didn't respond.

Wikus couldn't imagine what was going on in that weird alien's head but they weren't out of the woods yet.

"Christopher, listen, look at me. Listen to me— we have to go _now_. All of MNU is gonna come down here, they're gonna destroy us—we can do this, we just gotta get out of here—"

Shouts from MNU soldiers interrupted Wikus' words, prompting him to take cover as they laid down fire.

With his gun lowered Christopher had no means of defense, leaving Wikus to blast any soldiers he could that got close enough.

"Christopher, we got to go!"

Wikus felt genuine fear as the prawn stood frozen in place, still looking sadly over the dead body.

He refused to have them fail here. Fuck that.

"Think of your kid, for fuck's sake!"

The hybrid blinked as those words snapped Christopher back to reality.

Wikus laid some cover down from Christopher as he made his way over.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?! You could've gotten us killed!"

Christopher managed to overlook Wikus' barking and remained grateful.

The hybrid continued to fine as the alien decided to save his thank for when they were on the ship.

"What now?"

"I didn't say shit about a way out, you wanted in— we're in!"

Maybe Christopher spoke too soon.

Looking away from Christopher's _are you shitting me?_ look Wikus took out a few more soldiers.

"I have an idea," the alien announced, beckoning Wikus to follow him towards the other side of the lab.

"What are you doing?"

Clamping down a few weaponry parts together Christopher managed to finish the key to their escape in a few seconds flat.

"A bomb."

Wikus paused. How the prawn could do all of that he'd never know, not that he wanted to.

Christopher led the way down another hallway that led to a dead end and chucked the bomb towards the wall.

After the explosion Wikus grinned as they were where the armored trucks were. He didn't question the coincidence and simply got in.

Driving out of the facility was easy, driving while being shot at from a helicopter was hard as fuck.

The two manage to make it all the way to District 9 without too much trouble. They arrived at Christopher's shack, ditching the truck to run inside.

"Wikus, give me the fluid," Christopher asked, opening up the hatch to the control module.

The human handed it over and prepared to follow the prawn inside the small ship.

"I need to plug in the coordinates, get my son."

He couldn't really say no to that.

Wikus hurried over to Tom's home, not even bothering to knock.

"Kid? Kid?"

He glanced around the hovel, gun to the ground in case the child startled him and made him pull the trigger on accident.

"Mr. Wikus!"

He turned to see Oliver huddled behind a raggedy old couch with the other prawn gazing out the only window with a worried look.

"Thank Gods, you're alive," he muttered, fidgeting nervously. 

Wikus knelt down and held out his right hand.

"Come on, we're leaving."

His brows furrowed. Was Christopher just gonna leave Tom on Earth? He did say just get his son but . . .

The child jumped up from his hiding spot and up into Wikus' free arm. "Really?"

Before the child could say anything else and lengthen their conversation Wikus just stood and nodded at Tom who just waved bye and ran for his life as the sound of MNU got closer.

"Bye-bye, Mr. Tom!"

He dashed out the shack and ran full force towards their only chance of getting out alive.

Wikus could hear the helicopter blades whipping the air as they got closer and closer. He groaned to himself as he saw MNU trucks closing in.

"Cover your ears!"

The hybrid didn't have time for Oliver to explain how he didn't have human ears but luckily the child knew it was a figure of speech and covered up the sides of his head.

Wikus aimed at one of the trucks' front tires and fired. While it just flipped the vehicle it was enough to make the others stop as he got to Christopher's shack.

"Your dad's right down there, see if he's ready."

Oliver nodded and entered the ship.

Wikus could've asked if the hatch could be locked from the inside and all three of them could hide inside but his nerves were driving him crazy. They made it too far to fail now. He shut the hatch, inching towards the door.

He peeked outside, the funnel of his gun still whirring with heat. Various soldiers made their way towards his location, he was only able to take out a few before taking an elbow to the face.

"Fuck!"

"I see little Wikus is running off with the fucking creatures!" Koobus didn't hold back, stomping on Wikus' leg.

The man was incredibly lucky that he managed to get Wikus' grip off the trigger or he could've easily been turned into ground beef.

"Fuck you!"

Fighting back only seemed to infuriate the asshole even more, leaving Wikus to try and keep his ribs intact.

"One alien fuck and you're helping the little bastards leave!" Talk about adding insult to injury.

Wikus just laid there, trying to come up with some ideas of how to get the motherfucker off of him. It wasn't like he could just call for Christopher and compromise their hiding place.

Should anyone find it the whole mission was fucked.

"Come on, you cunt! Do something!"

Why Koobus didn't just shoot him right then and there Wikus didn't know. Perhaps somehow the whole thing got personal, yet Wikus couldn't come up with a reason why. Humans vs prawns, he supposed.

Or maybe it was just another bully and weakling situation.

"Get up, you fuckin'—!"

A gunshot wasn't the way Wikus thought that sentence would end.

He looked up to see Synman, still as blank-faced as ever. Koobus' lifeless body was tossed aside, his blood staining the dirt. 

"Get into the ship. Now."

"Tha–thanks," he stuttered, shuffling to his feet and opening the hatch.

"Don't forget what I told you."

Her words were too calm and collected amongst all the chaos that it made Wikus even more on edge.

He nodded, going down the ladder and shutting the ship opening closed.

"Mr. Sweetie Man!"

Wikus let out a sigh of relief, happy for one to hear his given nickname.

He slumped unto the floor, checking his leg absentmindedly.

Oliver hopped over to him, happy that his friend was actually coming with him as he was scared Wikus had left after he shut the hatch door.

"Are you okay?"

Wikus was in the middle of saying yes when he realized that that question came from Christopher.

"Ye-yes, nothing too bad."

Wikus struggled to get to his feet as he limped over to the alien at the controls.

With both hands in the strange gel a few screens popped up, some referring to the ships internal diagnostics and others to the outside.

Wikus could spot a screen focused on the activists, drawing MNU fire away from their location.

"Hold on," Christopher proclaimed, starting the ship's engines. As the interior began to rumble Wikus grabbed hold of Oliver and the head of Christopher's seat.

The ship rose from the ground, clouds of dirt and dust blinded any soldiers on the ground.

After a few close calls concerning a missile launcher they were high enough to be home free.

Wikus was in awe, of course it was quite larger up close but as a whole it was overwhelming.

"Big," Oliver whispered, clutching the hybrid's shirt.

"Took the words out of my mouth."

The two stayed quiet as Christopher positioned the control module into its hub. As various components locked it into place the alien rose from his seat.

"We need to get off the planet now. We'll gather up and organize our supplies," he stated, gesturing to the piles of boxes in the back of the ship.

Wikus hadn't even noticed them. He just nodded and followed Christopher out into the main ship, the corridor dim and dark.

"I can't see shit," Wikus hissed, widening his eyes even though it didn't help.

He flinched when he felt Christopher push them back into the module, the only place with light.

"I'll be able to maneuver in the darkness quickly if I go alone. We can't risk the humans doing anything to hinder us leaving the atmosphere," Christopher explained.

"Like what?" Wikus didn't know why he was asking questions, wasting time.

"Once I'm able to get the shields up we should be fine."

Wikus placed Oliver onto the floor as Christopher ran down the pitch black hallway.

The relief of making it to the ship was overshadowed by the ever-present fear of being killed. He couldn't even remember what the protocol was for this should something akin to it occur.

Perhaps they never thought something like this could happen.

How arrogant.

()()()

Christopher felt blessed as he made it to the control room.

Avoiding the disgusting lower floors and doors that couldn't be opened due to the power being limited proved to be difficult. Even more so while almost blind.

After a few twists and turns, remembering the layout of the ship and it's passageways, Christopher came across the entrance.

His antennas twitched happily as he passed overturned chairs and tables, heading straight for the large console. The alien took out the container with the black fluid and jammed it into a port.

As the fluid was emptied into the ship large bright screens popped up, signaling power being restored.

"Thank the Gods," he sighed, hands gripping nothing.

Christopher immediately engaged the shields and as the systems rebooted he flipped a switch to turn on the lights. He made a mental note to customize which lights turned on to save power later on.

His eyes roamed over various screens that depicted the earth below.

It was a terrible sight.

His people were scattered, running around and either defending themselves or mindlessly attacking soldiers. Christopher winced. He hoped that his escape didn't lead to them being all killed.

It was always a possibility but being in the middle of it was irrepressible.

Christopher turned away from the console, with the shields up there was no need to continue looking at the planet.

Hell, the guilt was already eating away at him.

He had a mission to complete and blaming himself over anything needed to be put on hold.

It would take a few minutes for the engines to boot up so he decides to head back to Wikus and his son.

As safe as they were they still needed to get a move on and losing the two in the caverns of the large ship would only delay their liftoff.

()()()

"Did Father get lost?" Oliver questioned, tilting his head to the side.

Wikus turned away from gathering the boxes, setting down one that contained clothing.

"Um... of course not," he said confidently. "Your dad's too smart for that." Wikus didn't know how intelligence correlated to running around blind but Oliver didn't question it.

His answer seemed to calm the child down and that was enough for the hybrid.

He gripped his aching ribs with his human hand, hoping that his new injuries wouldn't somehow cause him to look deformed once he mutated.

His grip on the box of food tightened. When had he already accepted his fate?

"The ship is scary," Oliver stated, peering down the dark hallway.

"Just until your Dad gets everything up and running," Wikus explained, anxiously swaying back and forth on his feet. Had he not have been in so much pain he would've sat down. But the risk of tearing anything was too great. He didn't make it that far just to bleed out.

Oliver's antennas perked up, alerting the two of something.

Lights flickered on, illuminating the hallway. Showing more doors and hallways that continued to branch off.

The floor was filthy, little creatures that were the equivalent of rats scurried around.

The light continued to flicker, but it was to be expected after 20 earth years of no power.

Wikus leaned out of the module, being careful not to actually leave the temporary safety spot.

"Where the hell is he?" He mumbled under his breath. There was no venom in his words, just genuine curiosity. He didn't want to wander around aimlessly with Christopher's kid by his side. Adding more stress to their situation would only bring up more problems.

"Father's here!"

Wikus looked at an excited Oliver and back down the hallway. He didn't see or hear anything. What happened to his hypersensitivity?

Then he picked up on distance footsteps. They got closer, louder, and faster. The eerie atmosphere didn't help Wikus' nerves, even though he knew Christopher was the only other sentient lifeform on the ship.

Well, he hoped.

Oliver met his father halfway, still carrying a light box in his hands.

"You did it, father!" He praised, looking up proudly to which Christopher half-heartedly chuckled at.

"Let's go," was all he said, breathless from running.

"What about the other boxes?" Wikus asked, there was at least 5 or 6 still inside.

"Just take the food for now, everything else should be fine after we enter hyperspace," Christopher elaborated, taking the box from Wikus' hands.

"Stay close to me," he cautioned, shutting the module's door.

The debris on the metal floor squished underneath Wikus' tattered shoes, making him cringe. How the fuck did Christopher run through this?

He bent over to pick up Oliver, not wanting the kid to walk through any of it.

Christopher decided against running back to the control room, hell, the floors were still stale and slippery. With the shields up they could carefully take their time.

()()()

Wikus gave up on even mapping out where they were after about 10 minutes consisting of random lefts and rights.

That and he was getting weary. Those naps in the activists' basement didn't help as much as he thought. Or maybe it was because he was still beaten and bruised.

Once they all arrived at the entrance to the control center Christopher set down the box and headed over to the console.

"Wikus, strap yourselves in," he ordered, eyes not leaving the screens as he manually shut all the doors and entranceways.

The hybrid walked over to a couple of seats that were connected to the surrounding walls. As he sat Oliver down he discovered that the seats were intended for full-grown prawns, as the straps were too high to even wrap around the child's shoulders.

Instead of freaking out like he wanted to Wikus settled for strapping Oliver on his lap, his sore arms wrapped around the child protectively.

"Mr. Wikus, are you okay?"

The hybrid was about to ask why when he realized that he was quietly hyperventilating. Hell, his mind was still running a mile a minute.

"I'm–I'm fine, kid," he wheezed, his sight going blurry.

Oliver looked at his father for confirmation but saw that he finished punching the coordinates for their planet.

"Are we going home now, Father?"

Christopher nodded slowly, focused purely on the fact that they were actually leaving Earth.

It didn't feel real to him.

For Wikus it felt all too real.

By the time the alien activated the engines Wikus was close to passing out. From the pain, from the aspect of leaving the only life he knew, and from overall mental exhaustion.

As the spaceship began to ascend further into the sky, gaining more and more speed, Christopher seated himself in the navigating chair. After strapping in the prawn gave one last look at the monitor of the ground below before accelerating their speed.

He looked back at to see Wikus falling in and out of consciousness and Oliver excitedly kicking his small feet back and forth.

Christopher inhaled and exhaled sharply as they left Earth's atmosphere. Once they gained enough distance between themselves and the planet he activated the ship's hyperdrive.

As they exited the solar system at blinding speeds Christopher kept a tight grip on the console.

"We–we did it."   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JFC im really trying not to fcking update this only once a month (im not that lazy i s2g) SAT's are coming up so works been uuuuggghhhhhh fingers crossed that after all that bullshit I'll be able to get this whole thing back on track I WILL KEEP THIS FANDOM ALIVE IF I HAVE TO ┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘


	8. Settling In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HEY GUESS WHOS NOT MENTAlly DEAD

Once they were on a one way route towards his home planet all the anxiety that filled Christopher's body diminished greatly. After physically calming himself down in his chair he proceeded to try and do the same mentally.

_Okay._

_Check on Oliver and Wikus._

_Double check coordinates._

_Get supplies from lower floors._

_Find temporary living quarters._

_Okay._

Christopher managed to focus all of his excess adrenaline towards his mental check list and rose from his chair.

Looking back towards his passengers his antenna pricked up in alarm. Wikus was slumped back, unconscious with a partially awake Oliver stirring in his lap.

He had no real idea on how to check humans for vitals and settled shaking his shoulder.

"Wikus? Wi-wikus?"

The hybrid just sleepily grumbled in response. Satisfied with a mumbled grunt Christopher undid the two's harness and set both of them unto the floor.

"Father!" Oliver beamed, feeling more awake than before.

Christopher petted his child's head. "I'm here, we made it," he gladly sighed.

"We're going to see our Home Planet!" Oliver happily clasped his hands together, antennas twitching with excitement.

The alien held a finger to his face. "Lower your voice, Oliver, Wikus is still . . . sleeping."

Oliver looked back at his human friend and nodded. "He must be really tired."

_Well, of course. He had just left the only life he ever knew while being labeled as a traitor. That'd exhaust anyone._

"Best to let him continue resting," Christopher mused, getting up to his feet. "I'll be down below getting our supplies and I am putting you in charge of watching Wikus." Mostly to keep Oliver occupied and Wikus from roaming around from fear or disorientation. Two birds with one stone.

"Okay, father." Oliver gave a crude salute before taking a seat next to Wikus.

Christopher shook his head with amusement, knowing his son had picked up the habit from various soldiers around the district.

Ugh, the district.

As he headed down to the supplies the feeling of finally being free from such an awful place was in full affect. After 20 long Earth years feeling so unshackled was . . . strange.

Hell, he didn't even know if he should be enjoying freedom. But after risking everything to escape he earned a bit of emotional relief. Right?

That didn't stop any guilt that bubbled up but he did a damn good job of not focusing on it.

Christopher managed to gather around 4 large boxes, and groaned to himself as he knew he would have to make a second trip.

()()()

While watching a sleeping Wikus was fun for around 5 minutes Oliver turned his attention towards the large screens near the console.

They either depicted dark space that was littered with stars or the ship's internal mechanisms. Oliver didn't even try to figure out what any of it meant, making a mental note to learn from his father later on, and settled on just mindlessly watching the seemingly empty void of space.

A groan from the hybrid brought Oliver's attention back to who he was supposed to be watching. Now that they were safely headed home the youngling was able to finally notice how in bad shape he was in.

Granted, it wasn't as if he was much better before, what with his left arm being bloody and sharp exoskeleton poking through his sore and red skin. But thanks to his little scuffle during their escape he was sporting a new black eye, possible broken ribs, and maybe even some fractures.

Oliver winced. To see his friend with that much physical damage made him feel uneasy. The human was already in pain while he was transforming. It seemed unfair for the amount to increase.

The hatchling pondered for a few seconds before lighting up. His father would be able fix Wikus, he knew his did wouldn't be able to stop the transformation but healing the hybrids injuries would be enough.

_Don't worry Mr. Wikus! You won't be in pain for much longer!_

"Stop talking like I'm dying."

Oliver turned to Wikus, who was groggily waking up, not just yet moving his limbs.

"Mr. Wikus! You're awake— wait, did I say that last part out loud?" He asked, slightly embarrassed for possibly waking Wikus up.

"Ha, yeah, yeah you did," Wikus grumbled, sitting up slowly as he took in his surroundings. "Where, where's your dad?"

"Father went to get more of the boxes, he put me in charge of watching you!" Oliver beemed, clasping his hands together.

"Well, you're doing a pretty good job so far." His statement was genuine, albet quiet and with a tone of tiredness. Wikus began inspecting his body, hoping with all his might that there was nothing too serious. The most that he felt were bruises and the usual soreness that came with his transformation.

He was tempted to sleep some more but there would be time for that later once they've officially settled down. Any questions that Wikus could come up with at the moment were pushed to the back of his head to ask later, such as rationing food and the whole bed situation.

"We're going really fast, Mr. Wikus!"

Wikus glanced over to Oliver who was proudly presenting the screen showing the distance to their home planet. It only took him a few seconds to decipher the alien language, a bit longer than usual considering he had just woken up and random words and phrases would light up and make him reread it.

Wikus had no real response so he settled for nodded which Oliver accepted as an answer.

The youngling made his way over to Wikus and sat next to the hybrid with his excitement becoming concern. "Does it hurt more?"

Wikus looked away. He couldn't just dump a bunch of complaints on a kid who was genuinely worried about his health so he shrugged. "No more than usual, kid."

"But your eye is a different color," Oliver pointed out, gesturing to his own eye as a way to show Wikus which one of his two it was.

"Human skin is weird," Wikus jested with a small smirk.

"No, not your skin, I mean your _whole_ eye."

Wait, what?

Wikus raised his right hand out of instinct but winced as the surrounding skin was sore and irritated.

"See! You _are_ hurt!"

Who knew getting fussed over by a kid could be so exhausting.

"Just a little— let's just let your dad handle this," Wikus moaned, trying his damnedest to avoid moving.

"Let me handle what?"

Oliver lit up as his father wobbled into the command center with heavy boxes threatening to spill from his arms.

"Father, Wikus is hurt!"

"Yes, Oliver, I can see that," he stated, setting down the supplies with a huff.

Wikus didn't flinch as the alien quickly observed his wounds, glancing over him with exhaustion being evident in his body language.

"We'll fix you up and work out our next step when you're done resting," Christopher stated, squatting down slowly and reaching out a hand. "Can you stand?"

Before Wikus would've smacked the hand away while sneering and saying he didn't need any help. But the presence of a tiny, impressionable child and the events that had transpired beforehand made him keep his rudness to a minimum. With his eyes averted Wikus took the hand and made a point of getting up as quickly as he could without worsening his wounds.

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled.

"I'll take you to one of the bedrooms in the upper decks, should be cleaner and more comfortable," Christopher turned to Oliver. "You two are in need of a nap."

Wikus rolled his eyes, he had done enough sleeping for all three of them but he wasn't about to turn down the chance to rest some more.

"Are you going to join us, Father?" Oliver inquired, tilting his head to the side.

Wikus paused.

"I'll come around once I'm certain there's no issues with the ship."

What?

When the alien moved to make eye contact with Wikus the human looked away, cringing silently to himself.

Taking Wikus' lack of response as one of agreement Christopher led them out of the control center and down a hallway.

As they walked without urgency Wikus went over the situation in his head. It wasn't like he could just cuss Christopher out for even suggesting they sleep in the same room, 1) the kid was there and 2) after everything that they had done for him he couldn't just revert back to such a toxic mindset. Especially considering that they were headed towards a planet run by their species.

Getting under Christopher's... exoskeleton wasn't the way to go to ensure Earth's survival. Wikus bit his lip gently. Keeping his inherent xenophobia to a minimum was gonna be the key to succeeding in the mission given to him.

He sighed. He never liked over thinking, and yet it was all he did during his lifetime. Perhaps that's why he didn't consider himself a risktaker. The most he had ever done was impulsively buy a house and that was with loans from his father in law.

A sudden impact from a wall brought him back to reality as he stumbled and held his forehead.

"Mr. Wikus, you have to watch you're going," Oliver explained, taking the hybrid's mutated hand in his.

Christopher watched carefully as Wikus didn't pull his hand from Oliver's and let the child led him away from the offending wall.

The alien looked forward when Wikus glared at him over an unmuffled chuckle.

()()()

"Wikus, get off the bed."

"Just leave me here to die in peace," Wikus whined, clutching one of the many pillows like a life line.

When you think alien bed the last thing you'd expect was something akin to feather upon feathers sandwiched between clouds and cotton candy. The hybrid didn't waste anytime finding a spot to rest his head and attempt to drift off when Christopher's voice kept him awake.

"You may sleep all you want once we fix you up, at least just a bit." Christopher took a first aid kit from one of the boxes and began searching for what he needed.

"I am begging you, just let me sleep," he moaned into the impossibly soft cushion.

_You haven't been sleeping on couches and worn down beds with springs popping out for over 20 years and you don't see me fawning over this._ Christopher shook his head but didn't say anything out loud as his child was no better, who was trying to make a nest on the bed out of as many pillows as he could grab.

"I'd rather keep this single bed clean as the others are beyond that and you wouldn't want to wake up to having both eyes be in the same condition."

Wikus sprang up and grabbed the nearest object that was reflective. "Shit, are you kidding me?" He inspected his eye with concern, a bit bitter that his eye had even changed from it's normal blue color.

"I might have something to help so just deal with being prodded at for a few minutes," Christopher bargained.

Wikus sighed as he sat up, groaned slightly as he felt his internal bruises twinge.

Detailing Christopher on what's what wasn't mind numbingly slow as the alien caught on quickly. After disinfecting anyplace that was bleeding and bandaging up the wounds Christopher left to retrieve whatever he needed to slow down Wikus' transformation.

"Do you feel better, Mr. Wikis?" Oliver asked, words muffled by the many pillows covering his body.

"A little," he admitted, the alien's hands weren't rough. Quite the opposite, as both of them wanted to keep any physical touches to a minimum.

"That's good!" Oliver's optimism was a breath of fresh air to Wikus' realist views, he just nodded sadly to the statement and looked around the bedroom.

Unlike a typical human one there was no large, expensive furniture like you'd find in a room that size. There no windows, like the lower floors, but the atmosphere was better mentally. At least to him.

He wondered if there was a connecting restroom or if they had to literally leave the room to handle business. Wikus turned his head towards the walls. They were smooth and metallic, curving at the corners instead of coming to a point. Deep lines placed strategly on the walls indicated hidden panels but that was a question for later.

He closed his eyes. Coming up with more and more random questions weren't going help anyone. He had to focus on ones of most importance, for now.

"Wikus, wake up."

He groaned and rose up again. "I wasn't sleepin', my eyes were just closed," he mumbled with a smirk, eyes blinking lazily.

"Sure." Was all that he got as a response which made him look at Christopher with annoyance.

"What is _that_?" Wikis asked, narrowing his eyes at a round black ball that was in the middle of the alien's palm.

"It's what's going to help you, now swallow it," Christopher ordered, handing it off to a frozen Wikus.

It was too sleek, squishy, and large. Larger than any pill that Wikus had the displeasure of swallowing. It could be compared to the size of a jawbreaker.

Pushing down the need to throw the thing in Christopher's face Wikus continued staring at the ball with confusion. It wasn't like the alien would poison him this far down the road but it was just so other worldly... And slimy.

"Can I get some water or something?"

If he had to he wanted to avoid any and all chances of suffocating to death.

Christopher grabbed a fresh bottle from one of the boxes and handed it over to the hybrid was curiosity. The human was being compliant, albeit with a disgusted expression.

Wikus was forever grateful that the prawn didn't make fun of him for the 3 first failed attempts and the fourth being successful but ending with him tearing up. He set down the bottle next to him and huffed.

"I did all your shit, can I sleep now?"

Christopher didn't know why the human was asking him as it was clear he would wether or not Christopher gave him the go ahead.

"I'll be down control center, and I don't want either of you," he glanced at Oliver who was peeking out of his fortress of pillows. "— roaming around without me. At least for now until you can maneuver and find your way on your own."

"See you later, Father," Oliver mumbled as his antennas drooped, signifying his sleepiness.

Wikus just flopped unto his back and made quick work of passing out as he was cradled in comfort.

_After a long nap I should be at 100%, or at the very least 75%._

()()()

"Fuck," he muttered as his eyes brought his surroundings into focus.

The dim lights in the room were a small blessing as Wikus sleepily woke himself up physically. He glanced over to the now empty pillow fort with confusion. How long had he been out?

Any thoughts related to actually leaving the room was stomped as Wikus accepted his fate to be stuck until Christopher showed up.

Before he could even think about doing anything the hybrid smacked his lips and went about searching for a toothbrush or at the very least toothpaste.

With a small shout of victory he made quick work of making his mouth feel fresh since cleaning up in the basement. Wikis tossed his hygine products back into a random box and yawned.

Lazily, he began inspecting his body.

Nothing had changed— he paused.

Nothing had changed.

Back on Earth after only 17 hours, give or take, he had been transforming at an alarming rate. Hell, had he not have been so tired before he would've been stressing over the fact that he might wake up full prawn.

Now that he was fully awake mentally he remembered the thing Christopher had him swallow. If the alien had that kind of mind boggling shit just lying around couldn't he take more to fix him— Wikus calmed his thought process. Adding more to the situation than necessary wasn't going to help either party.

But he was grateful that his wounds had stopped hurting significantly. If he wasn't so scared of tearing up more skin he would've jumped for joy on the bed.

"Looks like it worked."

Wikus looked up to the doorway to see Christopher entering with what looked like a tablet in his hands.

"What? The, the pill?"

"Yes, a bit stronger compared to human painkillers but I'm glad it had the desired affect."

Wikus squinted suspiciously. "You... did _know_ what it was gonna do... right?"

"Well," The alien turned his attention to his tablet. "I knew it would affect your transformation in some kind of way—"

"You had no idea what that shit could've done?!" Wikus stopped himself from jumping up from the bed and slowly stood. "What if I died or something?!"

Christopher kept his cool as the human proceeded to blow up in his face. "The worse that could've happened would've been the pill accelerating it, you've already survived an incident where you should've died and yet here you are," he stated, referring to fuel with a condescending look.

Wikus couldn't process what he'd been told and just sighed and shook his head. "Please fucking tell me next time you decide and do some experimental shit, you dick," he mumbled.

"You have my word as scientist," Christopher said offhandedly as he rolled his eyes. "Unlike your species mine don't ruthlessly experiment on others."

Okay, low blow.

Wikus looked away, is wasn't as if he could give a rebuttal and he didn't want to. Being in that horrible place for only a few hours was enough to make him realize how bad the whole 20 year situation became.

The lack of response from Wikus led Christopher to try and continue their conversation minus the tension. "My people have experience in working with different species' biology, you won't be treated cruelly."

Seeing how his comment lifted that dark cloud from around Wikus' head Christopher walked over to a section of the metal walls. After sliding his hand over a panel a room revealed itself.

"Here's the washroom should you feel the need and just do what I did to use the restroom over there." The alien gestured to the opposite side of the room.

"Thanks," Wikus sighed while fiddling with his bandages.

Christopher tilted his head. "Will you require assistance?" The question was innocent enough but that didn't stop Wikus from fumbling with his words.

"What—? No, no, I'll manage. Just– do the thing with the hand, right?" He refused to meet Christopher's gaze, just gesturing to his prawn hand. _Jesus, do all of them love eye fucking?_

Christopher nodded and made his way over to the door, much to Wikus' relief.

"If you ever need anything Oliver was snooping through a few of the boxes and found these," the alien informed, tossing a walkie talkies to Wikus.

"Are you sure there's that much range in these things?" He asked, seeing how they looked cheap and battery operated. What, did the activists suddenly go over their alien gift basket budget?

Christopher shrugged. "I tweaked them a bit but they work so just contact me if you're ready to join us in the control center."

And with that Christopher left Wikus in his thoughts. The hybrid didn't want to waste precious bath time to over thinking so he just rolled his eyes and got to work figuring out how to get water to flow out from the ceiling.

()()()

"Does Mr. Wikus look better?" Oliver asked, kicking his feet back and forth on his seat.

_He's still mouthy so I would say yes._ "Yes, while he's not cured he's not in pain so that itself is an improvement." Christopher handed his tablet over to Oliver before looking over the console.

"Thank you, Father, now I'll be able to travel around the ship!" He trilled, pumping his hand up victoriously as he held the digital map.

"Yes, but you are forbidden from venturing to tell lower decks, they're beyond repair or salvation at this point."

During the time they were stuck in that ship before landing on Earth the crew fell to the effects of starvation and dehydration. The water filter had stopped working and with no one competent enough to fix it the crew grew more savage. Hell, it got to the point where a few sunk as low as to eat each other.

Christopher shuddered and restated his point to his child.

"I promise I won't go down there, Father," Oliver vowed whole heartedly. He felt as if he was being trusted with new responsibilities and he was of course going to show that he was capable enough to handle them.

"Good," Christopher said with his eyes bouring holes into the various screens.

Oliver hopped off of the chair and skipped his way over to the nearest hallway. "I'm gonna go see Mr. Wikus! We'll scavange together!"

"Just make sure to bring him to me once you're both done, I have much to discuss with him," Christopher commanded, hoping silently that Wikus would be in a better mood once Oliver spoke to him.

Oliver gave a chirp of agreement as he ran off to find his friend. Now that Wikus wasn't in pain anymore maybe there was a chance that during their trip he'd be in the mood to play games.

_This'll be so much fun!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLFY FUCK wow I didn't expect to wait this long to fcking update, wow imsodisappointedinmyelf - Luckily, SATs are over and done with so after a week long break of not being dead I finally got to finishing this bland chapter, seriously once I get the ball rolling more shit will acutally happen. Lmao sorry for taking slow burn literally, there will be more to come but they gotta handle being in the same room without overthinking. They stay dumb ✌.ʕʘ‿ʘʔ.✌(do i make Wikus sleep so much cuz I want more sleep? More at 11)


	9. Answers

Wikus was forever grateful for the towels folded neatly in one of the boxes. In the middle of his shower the thought occurred to him and made him cringe at the thought of walking around soaking wet.

The clothes were plain but warm so he couldn't complain, but he opted to keep his shoes on. After seeing the state the lower decks were in Wikus wanted to avoid any and all waste that could be on the floors.

He finished drying his unkept hair and tossed the towel in a nearby box. While inspecting the one next to it for any kind of deodorant he came across shaving cream and a razor.

While the gesture was considerate Wikus just grumbled to himself as he felt his nearly smooth face. Nearly smooth everything at that point.

He prayed to who ever was out there that he wouldn't go completely bald before they get to their home planet. His self-esteem wouldn't be able to take it.

"Jesus, I don't know whether to be pissed or happy," he muttered to himself as he shifted through the box full of food.

It was all soft foods like instant oatmeal, canned soup, and etc. Which was great considering he didn't want to cause more of his teeth to fall out but he couldn't help but feel like an old man.

Wikus' eye brightened as he found some catfood, stuffed at the bottom of the box. "Thank God," he whispered while deciding against eating any. As much as he want to gorge himself he had no way of knowing how long they'd be traveling. He didn't come all that way to just starve in space.

So he settled for a can of chicken noodle soup for his three meals for the day. He happily chugged some down to calm his growling stomach.

"Mr.Wikus!"

The hybrid choked down any broth that was caught in his throat from the child's outburst.

"Oliver—," he coughed. "—Don't, don't do that!"

The youngling sheepishly walked in. "Sorry, Mr. Wikus, I'm just really excited!"

"I can see that," Wikus agreed while successfully finding a spoon. "Where's your dad?"

"Control center, Father said we could scavange the other rooms!" Oliver exclaimed, gleefully showing off the map he held in his hands.

Wikus tilted his head as he carefully chewed his breakfast. Spending less time with that irritating prawn usually meant that he was in a better mood overall but he needed his questions answered.

"I'd rather we head on over to your dad, got some . . . adult stuff to talk about." How did one bring up the fears of dehydration and starvation to a young child?

Oliver's happy expression deflated instantly. "You don't want to explore with me?"

Goddamn those puppy dog eyes.

Wikus couldn't bring himself to repeat his suggestion and just sighed. "Fine, fine, we can scavange a _few_ rooms— then we gotta go to your dad," he declared, pointing an accusing finger at the child.

"Yay!" Wikus narrowed his eyes as the child's sadness immediately melted away like the drop of a hat. "I'll lead the way since I have the map."

Yeah, the kid knew what he was doing. But Wikus couldn't bring himself to actually get mad. If anything he was more confused. It wasn't like he had been the best person in front of Oliver, save for a few small moments in his opinion. But if Oliver wanted to waste his time with Wikus the hybrid wasn't gonna stop him anytime soon.

"Lead the way," he commanded playfully, chuckling into his can of soup as the child took his hand to go in search of another room.

Unlike the lower levels the floor they were on were in better condition. Wikus didn't pay much attention when he trudged himself up to their room as he was almost asleep. As he slurped up more of his breakfast he decided that whatever they found of value could just be placed in the hallway and gathered up later.

The less heavy lifting he had to do the better.

"Let's look in here, Mr. Wikus!" Oliver beamed as he typed in the code to open the door.

The hybrid just nodded and continued eating.

The room was surprisingly clean, save for some blankets strewn about. In fact that was all that was in there from what Wikus could see.

"You sure we need more blankets? You have enough to make a pillow fort," Wikus pointed out.

Oliver tilted his head to the side. "What's a pillow fort?"

"Basically what you slept in, but bigger."

"Oh! Do you know how to build one?" Oliver clumsily gathered as many blankets as he could as Wikus just stood by the door.

"Maybe, I'm a bit old for that," he huffed, scrapping the almost empty can absent mindedly.

"But you're younger than father is," Oliver stated. "So you're not that old."

Wait, how old was old?

"How old is your dad exactly?" Wikus normally wouldn't care but to be labeled as young was very jarring considering he was well on the path towards middle aged.

"25 solar rotations, I think."

"And how many earth years is a solar rotation?"

"I think father said three."

Wikus crudely did the math in his head, writing numbers in the air with his index finger.

"Christopher's 75?!"

Oliver just giggled and nodded.

"Holy sh— crap, he _is_ old." Wikus couldn't help but laugh to himself. The comical thought of an elderly Christopher hobbling around with a cane just made the hybrid die with laughter. Damn, maybe he was more stressed than he originally thought if something as simple as that could crack him up.

Or maybe it was just because of Oliver. The kid had a knack for making Wikus lower his guard down. And he didn't find himself annoyed by it like he would've been before.

"So does that mean you'll help me build a pillow fort?" Oliver asked hopefully, tossing what he had in his arms into the vacant hallway.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, kid." Wikus let his chuckles die down as he followed Oliver into the next room.

"Should we bring more cushions for the pillow fort?" The child asked, referring to the light as air mattresses that Wikus had fallen in love with.

"Think you're strong enough to do most of the heavy lifting?" Wikus teased with a smirk.

"Yes!"

Wikus laughed again as Oliver brought his arm up to show off his non existent muscles. Possibly imitating various guards around the district.

"As long as they're not completely dirty we can take them," Wikus said, the last thing he wanted to do was spend hours rubbing out strange stains from alien fabric.

Oliver gave a chirp of joy and checked the map again.

In the end only one mattress was in usable condition and even then Wikus was too tired to move it.

The two of them managed to sweep a majority of the floor, dodging rooms that were in too similar condition to the lower decks.

Once they entered the last room which was as simple as the rest of them a lone datapad immediately caught his eye. It was dusty and took a minute to boot up as Wikus just shook it like you would a hand held gaming device.

"What did you find, Mr. Wikus?" Oliver inquired as he happily tossed the last of their new blankets out of the room.

"I'll tell you once the darn thing actually turns on." The datapad was the only thing of interest that they had found during their scavanging and he was desperate for something to figure out.

Too bad puzzles weren't considered a necessity.

"Ready to head back?" Wikus glanced over to Oliver before looking back to the pad in his hands.

"Yes, Mr. Wikus, I think Father will be proud of us for what we found," the child gleefully said as he began shoving their pile of blankets down the hall.

Wikus mumbled a half-hearted agreement as he managed to open the datapad. While he didn't expect any apps to appear there were a few uncyrpted files floating around in the screen.

He attempted to open one with a swipe to the right but nothing happened.

"Goddammit," he muttered under his breath as he switch his human hand for his prawn one. Of course, it ended up working.

All that he could find were some ship diagnostic documents and design blueprints.

Then he found an untitled one. After diciphering the date he realized it hadn't been opened since around the time the ship had stopped over Johannesburg.

Intrigued, he immediately clicked it open and began to translate the symbols in his head.

The first few entries were normal, just summaries of what happened that day of significance.

It was until around entry 20 when the tone of it all suddenly shifted.

_'—Entry 23: We are running low on all supplies at this point and Krt'exi hasn't left his cabin in over 16 solar cycles. Should we be worried or let greif run its course?:_

_—Entry 27: The machines have are starting to fail and none of us are in any condition to head below deck to fix any of it. I can hear the drones moaning and groaning over our diminishing food supplies. I am afraid:_

_—Entry 34: Due to lack of food it's safe to assume that they've started eating each other. At this point I'm surprised they can even comprehend language. All systems have shut down as far as I know. But the ship's still moving:_

_—Entry 45: Its getting harder and harder to breath, our back up generators have ran out of fuel and we've gone off-line. No chance for saving. The virus our cannibalistic brethren have contracted have made them aggressive and they won't listen to orders of those higher castes. The situation has spiraled into madness:_

_—Entry 48: I have accepted my fate upon this doomed ship. Of course traveling this far out away from any habitable planets had these types of risks ingrained in the nature of our mission. Should anyone find this I pray my family is blessed by the Goddesses after my death:_

_—Re'exitm'_

Wikus narrowed his eyes out of concern and confusion as he reread most of the entries given. Many were half done or just a garbled mess.

What on Earth happened on this goddamn ship?

A virus?

Failing machinery?

If Christopher was on the ship when all this happened how the hell did everything go to shit so fast?

Wikus decided to save the questions for when they went down to the control room. Hell, how would he defend his reasons for snooping through a dead prawns datapad?

_Knowing Christopher he'll make a shitty comment on how it's not the worst thing I've done._

Wikus rolled his eyes.

0000

"Father, we have enough pillows and blankets to make a pillow fort!"

Christopher tilted his head in confusion as he watched the two enter the room.

"Pillow fort?"

"Yeah, well, at this point it'd just be an attempt," Wikus snorted as all they had were a handful of usable pillows and a giant mattress.

The alien decided not to continue the strange conversation.

"Father, Mr. Wikus really wanted to see you!"

Wikus and Christopher simultaneously narrowed their eyes in concern and confusion.

"No!— no, I just— I have alot of questions I _really_ want answered," Wikus stated while crossing his arms.

Oliver remained oblivious and took a seat next to his father, taping away at his datapad.

Christopher didn't point out the hybrids awkwardness and he really didn't care. He just turned back to his work and typed away. "Ask away," he said, wondering if his lack of eye contact will allow the human to get his thoughts in order.

"Well, um—"

Okay, maybe he was mistaken.

"Alright, how long until we get, you know, your home planet?" Wikus absentmindedly stared at the blue screen above him, curious as to what feeling would be appropriate for the length of time he would be given.

"Considering our fuel and speed I estimate about 30 earth days."

"Holy shit, a whole month?" It wasn't really a question for Christopher. More towards himself. He had only a month to learn as much as he could about Christopher's planet, from politics to it's culture. God, that's a lot of pressure.

"Yes, any level higher than our current one could drain our fuel completely or damage the ship. Last I checked I was the only one on board who can repair equipment." Christopher's little side eye towards Wikus doesn't go unnoticed.

"Okay, okay," Wikus held his hands up. It was a simple question, not a jab towards the prawn. At least at first. "Calm down."

"Anything else?"

_How the hell is he acting like I'm an annoying customer or some shit?_ Wikus just narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.

"If we're gonna be in here for a whole goddamn month how are we rationing the food?" There was only a box full, and only one out of the three of them could actually get any nutrients from the food.

"Now that we're on a set course and the engines are working at full capacity I'll be able to go into the lower floors to get to the meal machines up and running. Hopefully they aren't too damaged to create enough for us to make it to our planet without threat of starvation." Eventually Christopher's words weren't directed towards Wikus anymore, sounding more like he was listing off a to do list out loud.

Wikus didn't say anything as he did that too now and again.

"Are you satisfied?" Christopher snapped out of his trance quickly, looking at the human with genuine curiosity.

Wikus nodded. "Yeah, yeah," he mumbled.

Now that that was out of the way other questions flooded his head.

How the fuck was he going to survive a whole month with little entertainment? Just talking to Christopher got his blood boiling whenever the conversation would devolve into arguing and snide comments. And Oliver made him feel twice as old as he already was.

_Calm down, Wikus. You just have to keep things civil and not insane._

He glanced back up at the consoles screen.

_Just do it for Tanya._

He hoped with all he had that that would be enough.

It had to be enough. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY shit's been going on, prom and exams BUT i've gotten the next chapter down at least summary wise. Idk how it'll turn out tho, I sure as hell ain't writing something for every single day for a whole month, that's insane. SO I will be going week by week, I don't want any relationship progressions to get too slow or happen too fast. So fingers crossed that they'll be besties by the time they get to their homeworld and we can get to the ship we all deserve~ again, sorry for the wait but at least I'm just a month late so- *gets ambushed*


	10. Cabin Fever I

**:Week one:**

"Hmm, go-fish."

Oliver pouted adorably as he picked up another card from the deck, adding it to the set he already had.

After finding a pack of cards in one of the boxes Wikus took it upon himself to teach Oliver how to play the easiest game but the child surprisingly caught on quick.

Oliver had finished bathing with Christopher, running happily out of the washroom afterwards to announce how clean he felt.

Wikus just applauded while gently brushing his teeth again. He couldn't imagine how horrible it must've been to be dirty for so long, spending a few days in those conditions made him itch at the memory.

To keep Oliver from slipping and sliding around their bedroom Wikus tossed an unused towel his way. Oliver giggled to himself as he patted himself dry, exclaiming how soft and ticklish the cloth was.

Once the two of them were finally able to have an actual game of go fish after a few tutorials Christopher exited the washroom. He was holding a ball of tattered clothing and threw it to the side.

Wikus then took notice. It was strange seeing Christopher look similar to the other prawns in the district what with his signature red shirt off, even though the clothes he did wear didn't really cover anything.

"Doesn't it feel nice to be so clean, Father?" Oliver kept his cards close to his person like Wikus had told him, after making it painfully obvious that he could see what the child had in his hand.

Christopher gave an affermative chirp and headed over to a wall which revealed something akin to a closet.

Christopher didn't hide his glee in wearing clean, albiet old, clothes and not having dirt and other substances staining his exoskeleton and crevices. The clothes themselves were a bit formal but Christopher couldn't find himself complaining.

With his chest and forearms covered he walked over to the hybrid, pulling the first aid kit into his lap.

"Do you have any. . .2's?" Oliver asked, acting as if the game was one of life or death.

Wikus couldn't help but play along, seeing such a serious expression on tiny Oliver was just too funny. "No," he mumbled, trying to keep his smile to a minimum.

Christopher just simply held out his hand, waiting for Wikus to give up his. The hybrid didn't look at him, focusing intently on their playful game, but he did as the alien wanted.

While Christopher undid the old bandages Wikus could see the exhaustion in the prawn's eyes. He cleaned up any blood or torn skin with the vigor of a dead man.

"Mr.Wikus?"

"W-what?" Wikus jumped slightly as he finally tuned into Oliver's words.

"It's your turn," he said, impatiently rocking back and forth.

"Uh, any 5's?"

"Nope! Go fish!"

Wikus didn't say any quips as he looked back at Christopher again, who was had just finished disinfecting any unhealed wounds.

"When's the last time you've slept, Christopher?" Wikus added the alien's name to his question at the last second, just in case he was so out of it that he couldn't be indirectly addressed to.

Christopher met Wikus' concerned eyes for second before paying attention to his arm. "When we were in the basement," he murmered.

He sensed Wikus' surprise and continued. "I've stayed awake for longer periods of time, I assume it's the gravity of this whole situation. I'll be fine."

Wikus wanted to elaborate on how he wasn't worried about Christopher's well being. He _wasn't_. It was just that having a sleep deprived space pilot sounded less than thrilling. But the drowsy tone in Christopher's clicks and his quick blinks made Wikus keep his smart mouth shut.

"Do you have any Queens?"

Wikus smirked.

"No— Ow!" Wikus shot a glare to Christopher who was tightening the bandages a bit too much. His eyes said _quit it_ and he went back to finishing up.

"I mean, yeah," Wikus couldn't stop a laugh from bubbling up in his throat as he tossed Oliver over his cards.

"Did I win?"

"Yup, congrats," Wikus' muttered as he sleepily smiled, voice low and tired.

_God, this is weird._

Wikus managed not to exhale out of relief when Christopher took a seat on the opposite side of the mattress. As large as it was the chance of accidentally kicking or touching one another was minimal.

"Do you want to join us, Father?" Oliver asked, still giddy from winning the last game.

Wikus chuckled to himself as Christopher just shook his head, his eyes were lidded from exhaustion.

"Not tonight, Oliver, I'm extremely tired."

If prawns could yawn Wikus was certain Christopher would've done it while settling in on the soft cushions.

"We should get sleeping too, kid," Wikus said, gathering up the cards and tossing them aside.

"Aw, okay," Oliver pouted while snuggling into a pile of pillows near his already sleeping father.

Wikus figured he could survive the trip if it consisted of this. Just eating, hanging out with Oliver, sleeping, and having short conversations with the older prawn.

_I got this._

()()()

"Wikus, I need your assistance."

Both Oliver and Wikus groaned out loud as Christopher waited patiently by the door, arms crossed.

The two had built the aforementioned pillow fort, albeit smaller and less stable than it should've been.

Oliver only whined due to his fun being interrupted while Wikus was just bitter that he wasn't going to spend the day lazing around like he planned.

"With what?" The hybrid asked as he shimmied his way out of the fort.

"We need more food and you're going to assist me to fix the machines," Christopher informed while beckoning Wikus with a wave of his hand.

Wikis just rolled his eyes. He had seen what prawns were capable of in terms of strength and Christopher had already proven himself quite the engineer.

_What am I gonna do, just sit there and look pretty?_

"Can I come too, Father?"

Christopher shook his head. "The machines are in the lower floors and I don't want you down there, regardless if Wikus and I are both down there."

For once Oliver's little pouting expression didn't make Wikus chuckle and made him feel sorry for the child. He wasn't about to argue with Christopher though. He did have a point but there was no reason to point it out as Oliver did as his father said without question.

After putting his shoes on Wikus knelt down to the sadden prawn in the crumbling pillow fort.

"When I get back I'll show you how to play a different card game, mybe one a bit more challenging. Okay, kid?"

Oliver's demeanor immediately brightened up, making Wikus laugh lightly.

"Really?"

With a quick nod Wikus joined Christopher over to the door.

"Contact me if you need anything, Oliver. We won't be down there too long."

Oliver gave a chirp of understanding and went back to improving his pillow fort.

The two adults made their way down the various hallways in silence.

It was moreso comfortable for Christopher who wanted to get the job over with. Wikus on the other hand was dying from inherant awkwardness.

_Maybe it's just me_ , he thought as he snuck a few glances towards the prawn. He looked unbothered, completely focused on the task at hand. That or Wikus just couldn't read Christopher's expressions correctly.

"What?" Christopher asked, tilting his head slightly.

Wikus stammered his answer, embarrassed that he had been caught. "I— we, what exactly am I here for? I mean, I don't know shit about your tech— what, am I just here for show?"

The hybrid's fumbling and sad attempt at humor didn't appear to faze Christopher and luckily didn't prompt him to comment on it.

"I need you with me to hold my tools."

Well, that was straightforward.

Wikus narrowed his eyes with curiosity. Did he mean wrenches, bolts, and the like?

Wikus blinked his thoughts away. Just because they had holograms did not mean that they were able to fix everything with a wave of their hands.

"I may technically have four arms but only two of them are actually useful in our situation," Christopher stated, the smallest hint of a smirk on his face.

Wikus couldn't trust himself to react properly as he questioned as to wether or not Christopher could actually tell jokes. He knew of their anatomy, so it wasn't lost on him but it still didn't feel right to smile. Let alone laugh.

Their conversation paused again. They didn't speak until they finally reached the lower levels, the dirty floor dingy and shimmery with waste.

"Jesus Christ, you couldn't have turned on any lights?" Wikus grumbled while squinting as the lower floors were covered in a lovely layer of darkness.

Christopher huffed. "And waste more power? The lights are not able to be individually activated only in the sleeping quarters. They can only be deactivated floor by floor. Just deal with the flashlight for now."

Wikus pouted, silently wondering if he spent too much time with Oliver that his childish mannerisms had rubbed off on him.

He cringed. That meant there was a chance that he was rubbing off on the kid in return. Wikus made a mental note to keep from doing anything not role model worthy.

_Jesus, kids are exhausting._

Once they made it to what looked to be a large cafeteria Wikus found himself nearly slipping every five seconds.

"Fuck, this is disgusting!" He yelled, gripping unto any table or chair within reach.

Christopher slowed down, keeping the flashlight aimed ahead of them. "I suppose that's what happens after 20 earth years of the ship not being cleaned."

Wikus could see the prawn rolling his eyes even in the partial darkness and just growled. "Can't you just clear a path or something, you're already leading the fucking way," he sneered.

"We are literally almost there, walking through sludge is a small price to pay to make sure none of us suffer from starvation," Christopher narrowed his eyes, clealy unimpressed. _You're not the one walking through this without feet covering._

The hybrid just mumbled profanities under his breath as his shoes squeaked and slide across the moist floor.

Entering the backroom full of confusing machinery let Wikus breath a sign of relief. The room was as dark and cramped as he thought it was going to be. _I thank whoever's out there that there's not spiders in space._ He shudders, just the thought of walking through spiderwebs making him frown.

His disgust was interrupted by the prawn tossing over a second flashlight.

"Okay, Wikus, I'll need you to just hand over a tool when I ask," Christopher stated, seating himself on the blanket he had set down beforehand.

Wikus took a glance at said tools in their alien toolbox. "Uh, I've never been one for tools and shit but, uh, _this_ confuses even me– I mean, the fuck is this?" Wikus asked, holding up something that looked nothing like a wrench.

Christopher didn't spare him a glance. "Luckily for you they're all organized by color."

"Christopher, five of these fuckers are red."

"They are different shades."

_Maybe to your eyes, asshole_. Wikus glared at the lower half of the prawn, who was currently wedged up into the food supplying machine's circuitry.

It was already more warm and humid down in the lower levels due to all the machinery working and emitting heat. Wikus couldn't imagine staying down there for much longer than needed. No wonder Christopher wanted to get it done as soon as possible.

"Hand me the yellow one." Christopher held out a hand, still hidden by the metal of the machine.

Wikus dug through the tool box, awkwardly holding the flashlight in his prawn hand.

"How'd this shit break down anyway?" He asked absentmindedly, not really expecting an answer. Maybe it was to create some conversation, anything to keep the eerie noises from the rest of the floor from creeping into Wikus' mind.

"I don't really have an answer for that," Christopher confided. Once Wikus handed over the tool he continued, still a bit hesitant in his explanation. "During that time I don't think I was handling the situation. One of the other higher ups were dealing with it, and we see how well that turned out."

Was the bitterness in his voice towards the others or himself? Wikus narrowed his eyes from confusion.

"So where _were_ you during all of that?" He fiddled with the flashlight, screwing and unscrewing the battery cap.

"It's irrelevant now."

The tone in Christopher's voice was enough to make Wikus consider dropping the subject. Keyword: consider. Or at least put it on the back burner for the time being.

"Fine, fine—"

"Purple."

"There's two."

"The lightest one."

They exchanged tools, Wikus still messing the flashlight.

"Why did you guys run out of fuel? I doubt that a spacefaring race would be so. . .careless?" He pursed his lips. "Well, ill-equipped is the better word, I guess."

Christopher paused, clearly irritated and even though Wikus couldn't see the prawn's face he knew he was being glared at.

"Why are you being so annoying?"

_I've been hanging out with Oliver._ Wikus oh so wanted to say that but knew Christopher wouldn't take kindly to his joke.

"Hey, you prawns didn't tell us jack shit about why you were stuck on Earth. Excuse me for wanting the whole story after 20 fucking years." There wasn't much malice to Wikus' words, he was genuinely interested in the reason why it all happened.

There wasn't much to go off of from the datapad and the hybrid still lacked the way to subtly bring it up.

"Maybe being treated as monsters and being interrogated for days on end make us less than friendly." Wikus could practically hear him roll his eyes. "But what do I know."

"Okay, okay, calm down," Wikus muttered. "Will you at least tell me how in the hell you ran out of fuel?"

Christopher stayed silent for a few seconds then sighed. "Fine, the fuel capsules were broken."

Wikus tilted his head. "Really? How?" They were extemely durable, at least from the one he had come into contact with. 

"I'll never know, I wasn't there when the incident occurred and your kind took all the evidence." The hint of sadness in Christopher's chirps made Wikus feel the same.

"Blue."

Wikus bit his lip, not hard enough to break skin or crack his teeth. "I found a datapad."

The enchange of the tools slowed. "What?"

"While Oliver and I were going through the rooms I found a datapad, there wasn't a lock or anything on it, so I went and read a few of the entries— I know that that's, like, bad, but–"

"What did you find?"

_Hmm. Okay. Just gonna glaze over the fact that I went through some dead prawn's fuckig belongings._ Wikus wasn't about to complain out loud however.

"I, uh, well, you can read it for yourself when we get back."

Christopher accepted that answered, not even flinching as he continued fiddling with wires and the like.

Wikus let out a sigh of relief as the assumption that Christopher would go off on him proved to be false.

"Can you go over to the other side of the room where the control panels are and press the green activation button?"

Wikus nodded, shaking his head as he realized that Christopher couldn't see him. "Yeah, yeah."

He set the tools down and walked over to where Christopher had said to go, waving his hand over the panel to get it to turn on.

Wikus waited until Christopher fully emerged from the machine before activating it.

It sputtered and whirred as it finally worked after 20 years of being idle.

Before the hybrid could rejoice he felt something skitter across his shoe.

"Ahh!" He started jumped back, waving the light of the flashlight back and forth across the floor. "Jesus fucking Christ, what the  _fuck_ was that?!"

His freak out was quickly accompanied by laughter. Not his own.

Surprisingly, it was Christopher's. Who was obviously failing at trying to keep it quiet as he avoided keeping eye contact while he packed up the toolbox.

Wikus was so surprised that he couldn't stop himself from stammering. "Wh–what, finding enjoyment in my screams of rightfully placed terror?"

He couldn't bring himself to actually feel upset over being laughed at. It was strange. Wikus found it extremely strange when he ended up chuckling too.

"I'm fairly certain that a scream that high in pitch shouldn't have been caused by a such a small Tt'Zhi." Christopher's chirps were littered with huffs of laughter, making it harder for Wikus to understand him.

"We, we're not discussing this. Ever!" Wikus chalked up their mindless laughter to being cooped up in the ship as he walked backwards out of the backroom to keep an eye on any more. . .Tt'Zhi's.

Christopher followed suit, cradlig the tool box under his arm.

Wikus made sure his random laughing fit didn't cause him to slip and fall. He'd never live that down. But it was nice to see the alien with an expression that wasn't one of exhaustion or contempt.

Hell, it was nice to have an actual laugh after a week of anxiety and tension.

_Yeah, this is good. If I keep this up I'll get on Christopher's good side. Easy._

Of course he hoped that he wouldn't have to become a kultz to do so. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, im tired but this is working out well for me uughghgjkfjg I'm trying hard to tell the story from everyone's perspective without it looking like a badly edited RP fanfic, the only reason it's mostly Wikus' reactions and thoughts is because Christopher and Oliver are more straightforward with how they feel like wtf Wikupedia why you so human and dumb (┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻


	11. Cabin Fever II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holy fucking shit pls fucking kill me the website kept shutting down while I tried uploading this BUT IVE DONE IT *runs*

**:Week 2:**

It was only after a few days of being beaten by Oliver in almost every card game he could remember the rules to that  Wikus realized that he hadn't had the pleasure of looking through _all_ of the boxes.

It didn't take long for Wikus to stop after only looking into one box though. One filled with dozens of cases full of DVDs.

He suppressed the urge to squeal from excitement. He could put something on and mindlessly enjoy it. Anything to take his mind off of his current situation. It wasn't like he focused on it anyways.

At any time while they slept he was alone in his thoughts he'd try his hardest not to think of any horrible outcomes. Be it getting killed by the prawns or not being able to see his wife ever again.

Just whispering her name to himself was enough to make him frown and gloomily look down at the floor.

He shook his head.

As Wikus skimmed over the titles his excitement dwindled. So far all there was were documentaries related to earth. Ranging from human biology and human history.

Of course they weren't meant for entertainment. Only education.

"Jesus Christ."

Granted, he was a little relieved that the prawns who had to deal with his transformation had a frame of reference to how he's supposed to look after curing him. The last thing he needed was to end up in the uncanny valley.

"Jesus fucking Christ, where's all the actual movies?" Wikus grumbled to himself, grabbing another case before pausing.

_Did they even pack a DVD player?_ He frowned, and hurriedly searched for one.

_Maybe I can ask Christopher to somehow get one of his monitors to play them but I doubt he'd wanna watch humans dick around for 2 hours._

"Ha!" He yelled victoriously as he found the player, thankful that it was fully charged and could be charged period.

Once Wikus finally got his hands on a pile of movies that didn't relate to humans and their biology he heard the door open with its signature swoosh.

"Mr. Wikus, do you want some of my lunch? There's so much food now!" Oliver offered, happily munching on a pile of mushy meat in a silver bowl.

Wikus chuckled and shrugged. "Sure, we can eat while we watch some..." He skimmed a few titles and just shrugged. He turned the case over to Oliver. "Here, you pick one." Wikus couldn't care less about what movie to watch, anything was better than boredom. And who better to be entertained with?

Oliver tilted his head. "What are these?"

Shit, that's right.

"Uh, things humans watch for fun. You've probably never seen one. . ." Wikus trailed off, trying not to bring up Oliver's less than stellar upbringing as the reason why.

"They're like long videos of stories." He guessed that was the best way to simply explain it.

"Oh! And I get to pick?"

Wikus nodded and chuckled as the child flipped through the case, eyes narrowed as he concentrated on picking the best one.

"Father would only tell me stories, I've never seen one."

Wikus didn't want to get into how Christopher was probably focused on survival and not the latest summer blockbuster. He just shrugged and leaned forward, being careful as he stretched his spine. He made a mental note to ask Christopher for more of those painkillers, staving off the transformation was too high a priority as he dreaded the chance of being completely immobilized.

"This one!" Oliver pointed it out to Wikus who's face visibly paled.

While he wasn't a major movie fan he knew enough of Kill Bill Volume One that it sure as hell wasn't suitable for kids. His own wife couldn't even stomach it.

"Uh, let's, uh, choose something else," Wikus strained a smile as he politely pulled the case away.

"Why? I thought I got to choose a movie." There goes that adorable and confused clicking again.

"That one's for. . . mature audiences," Wikus explained.

"Father says I'm mature."

_Fuck, I forgot kids do this. Little mind games to get what they want. Guess all races go through this shit._ Wikus cleared his throat.

"Okay, Mr. Mature, it means no kids— period." Wikus stood his ground, not showing actual anger of course. "Besides your dad would kill me."

The hybrid didn't want to think of the ways the alien could bring down his wrath after hearing his child say any of the lines from that movie. He shuddered.

"Father is not a killer!" Oliver didn't sound upset, it was like he was just simply stating a fact. "And he likes you too much to kill you anyways."

Wikus snorted out loud, pausing in his search inside the DVD case to laugh harder. If what was going on between him and Christopher so far was categorized as friendship by Oliver the poor kid needed some friends his own age as soon as possible.

Oliver didn't continue, letting the hybrid pick out a movie with a strange symbol on the front.

"All kids like superheroes, right?" The question was moreso directed at himself than Oliver as he popped in The Batman.

The young alien grabbed their lunch and sat right beside Wikus, offering him some.

"What's this stuff anyways?" Wikus asked as he set the DVD player in front of them.

"Father took some meat from our supplies and put it in the multiplier."

"That machine I helped him fix?" _Okay, that itself sounds farfetched, I didn't do shit._

"Yeah, it duplicates the food cells so we don't run out," Oliver quickly ate a handful.

"Huh, that's nifty. What's the meat?" Wikus was mostly concerned with eating anything that wasn't normal. _Well, I've already eaten cat food so I guess I'm already at Rock bottom._

"There's lamb, chicken, and the. . . the one that's black and white."

"Cow? Well, beef?"

"Yes! Father threw those into the machine all at once so they're kind of mushed together. It doesn't taste bad though."

As if Oliver had to actually sell Wikus on the mountain of protein. All Oliver had to do when he barged in on Wikus' pity nap was bring a can of cat food which didn't last an hour. 

Speaking of cat food. . .

"How come you didn't add any cat food, we have like 10 cans left." All that thinking of cat food was getting to Wikus' stomach, much to his chagrin.

"Father said I shouldn't eat cat food all the time. Because of the chemicals," Oliver whined like a human child who was forced to eat their vegetables. The youngling only pouted more as Wikus laughed.

"Can't argue with that." Wikus pressed play, still chuckling under his breath.

The two of them sat through the movie with the typical questions Wikus expected.

"Why does he dress up like that?"

"To fight crime, duh."

"Do all human cities look like that?" If Oliver had a nose it would be scrunched in disgust.

"Thankfully no."

The whole campy-ness of the movie was too much for Wikus who just barely succeeded in covering up his laughter at the zany sound effects and hilarious close-up shots. He didn't want to explain why to the kid, who appeared to be completely immersed in the film.

Wikus had to fight to keep his hands from covering Oliver's eyes as the more intimate moments popped up. Luckily for him, they were short.

Soon their meal was completely gone as the movie tied up loose ends after the defeat of the Joker.

"So," Wikus' formed into a stern line as he looked at the now empty bowl. "–did you enjoy your first movie?"

Oliver nodded. "Are all movies like this?"

Wikus didn't know if he meant are they all Batman related or what so he just shook his head. "Nah, not unless it's a sequel— which we do have."

"Does that mean more Batman?" The pure child-like whimsy in Oliver's voice was enough to pull at Wikus' heartstrings. 

"More Batman."

Oliver jumped up to his feet and shouted, "Yay!" He looked at the DVD player.

"I want to watch it in the monitor room." Wikus tilted his head as he shifted his focus from their empty bowl to Oliver.

"Huh, why?" He scoffed playfully.

"This screen's too small."

Wikus smirked. "The perfect size for you then."

Oliver pouted. "Not for you."

"Hey, hey, don't try to put this sudden screen size requirement on me." The hybrid quipped. "If you wanna move to the control room I'm not gonna stop you."

"Yay! Let's go."

Wikus contemplated going to get more to eat but having to go down to the lower floors by himself or asking Christopher for assistance didn't sound spectacular.

He rummaged through the box that held the food intended for him, pushing packets of oatmeal and cans out of the way until he felt the coldness of glass. Curious, he pulled out a container of whiskey which was situated next to a bottle of wine.

_If there is a God he loves me._ Wikus chuckled at his dark joke, eyes not breaking eye contact with his transformed hand.

()()()

"You want what?"

Oliver innocently swayed back and forth with his hands cradling the DVD player behind his back. "Can Mr. Wikus and I watch his movies on one of the screens? The story player is too small for us—"

"Don't involve me," Wikus sang out as he crossed the room with a newly filled bowl. He had hoped that Oliver would be able to convince his father while he was getting a second helping.

The hybrid smirked as Oliver sent a glare his way as he took a seat on the mattress they brought down from the other rooms. You could barely tell it was used as it rarely was, Christopher had a bad habit of not sleeping for hours. Wikus couldn't help but be impressed as he's been taking every chance at resting. Of course, he kept that fact to himself.

"The chances of anything drastic occurring are slim, so I suppose you can use one of the monitors," Christopher explained, taking the DVD player from Oliver.

"Oh, thank you!" Oliver gleefully said, happily handing over the device.

Wikus didn't pay attention to the engineer magic shit that was performed by Christopher after he managed to, somehow, connect the earth device to their alien tech. He wasn't about to ask questions or even _attempt_ to comprehend any of it.

_Fuck, I barely understand the tech on Earth at this fucking moment._ He narrowed his eyes, remembering how his co-workers would tease him about his blackberry.

"Mr. Wikus, can I have some?"

Wikus turned his head to the child, who was already eating. He chuckled.

"No, no, you cannot," he playfully muttered, quickly taking the bowl and putting it out of Oliver's reach.

"Hey!"

Christopher couldn't help but smile to himself as he watched his child happily play fight with Wikus from the corner of his eye. The sound of Oliver's laughter was a rare one. Having to keep quiet in the district and there rarely being anyone for Oliver to actually play with were key factors.

The bandages on Wikus' arm caught Christopher's eye, reminding him that he hadn't had the chance to change them for a few days. They only had a few more pills and there were plenty of days left before they reached home planet.

The most they could do was wait until the signs showed or if the pain came by in full force.

"Wikus?"

Wikus paused, bringing the bowl back down to Oliver's height. "Hmm?" He tried to get his smile off his face, wondering if he'd been reprimanded for messing with Oliver again.

"I have forgotten to change your bandages, I'll do that in a moment." With that tone Wikus easily figured out that he had no say in the matter, not that if he did he'd ever decline.

The hybrid's arm wasn't too far off from how it looked when they left earth, spikes and ridges still causing blood to seep out from time to time. Maybe moving around too much was a plausible reason but Wikus wasn't about to stop . . . well, moving.

"What's that white stuff?" Wikus looked up at the screen as the movie started. Of course Oliver had never seen anything other than rainfall from the sky from where they were situated.

"That's, um, snow. Frozen raindrops." The look on Oliver's face was almost too cute for words.

"That can happen?!"

"Yeah, I guess you don't have it on your planet if your dad hasn't talked about it," Wikus chuckled while eating some of their shared dinner.

"Hmm, I guess not. Father!" Oliver chirped, rising from his seat a bit as if that helps gets Christopher's attention.

"Yes?" Christopher asked, acting as if he hadn't overheard the whole conversation.

"Do we have— what is it again?"

"Snow," Wikus whispered.

"Is there snow on our home planet?"

Christopher shook his head, sparing a glance towards his child. "Our planet overall is not that cold, and the regions that are are uninhabitable."

That made Wikus tilt his head curiously. MNU never really took it upon themselves to find out what climates prawns couldn't survive in, as far as he knew. Just the thought of them tossing a prawn in below freezing temperatures made him cringe.

"So it's just dry there?" Wikus asked, taking his mind off of his pessimistic thoughts.

Christopher didn't turn around, just scanning over various monitors. "Some, like the desert and mountainous regions. There are more wet ones, however, like jungles." Christopher couldn't deny that the thought of being back home was exciting enough to make him even wish to be back in his least favorite regions of what he remembered.

"And the underwater ones!" Oliver chimed in, happy that all three of them were having a normal conversation.

That made Wikus stare blankly at the alien child. "Oh my God, are you serious?" It seemed as though the alien planet was living up to his expectations.

"Yes! Father said there are cities in the oceans!" Oliver himself was clearly excited at the thought of seeing everything his planet had to offer. Wikus could picture him running around, trying to experience it all.

"What, you guys have submarines too?" Wikus directed that question towards Christopher, who still had yet to join them.

"Yes, but we can just travel by foot if we please."

"You mean you guys can walk on the ocean floor without any— issues?" Christopher turned just in time to look at Wikus' baffled expressed and chuckled.

"To an extent, we don't typically travel down valleys with crushing pressure." Okay, there was some sarcasm there and Wikus found himself appreciating it with a huff.

"I keep forgetting you guys have gills," he confessed.

"Well, there wasn't any large bodies of water near the district so it's not your fault it rarely comes up in conversation." There it was again, getting a laugh out of the hybrid that time.

"Oh, no! Mr. Wikus, we didn't pause the movie," Oliver sadly explained, pointing a claw to their monitor.

"We can rewind it, it's okay." Wikus felt the need to reassure Oliver as he sounded completely worried.

They watched the movie in a similar fashion to its prequel. Complete with questions that Wikus answered, slipping in a joke here and there.

After telling Oliver that the movie was more mature compared to the one before it the child took great pride in knowing that. Wikus wondered why all children, regardless of species, wanted to be more mature. It wasn't like adulthood was ever easy. Or fun.

During the more racy parts of the film Wikus once again kept his hands to himself to keep from shielding Oliver's eyes with them. Luckily Christopher didn't seem to notice as he didn't make a single comment and Oliver didn't ask any related questions.

Wikus considered himself lucky as the second-hand embarrassment was getting to him.

It wasn't until the movie ended did Christopher finally come over to redress Wikus' bandages.

"What are we going to watch next?" Oliver asked, placing the DVD case open in front of Wikus.

While trying to ignore the stinging from the peroxide Wikus spotted a familiar fossil of a dinosaur one of the DVDs.

"That one," he hissed.

Oliver chirped happily as he got up to change the movies.

Wikus turned his attention back to his arm and Christopher. The alien was, again, focused on finishing quickly and efficiently.

"Hey, Christopher," Wikus started. "Did you, uh, get around to reading the datapad?" He kept his voice down, mostly so Oliver wouldn't overhear as the subject matter was a bit much.

Christopher brought his eyes up from the blood and only met Wikus' for a second. "Yes," was all he said as if he was waiting for Wikus to ask more questions.

He wasn't left hanging as the hybrid instantly got impatient. "Well?"

"You've already read it so I assume you understand most of it." His clicks were low and quick, glancing over at Oliver for a few seconds before looking at Wikus' miscolored eyes. "What are you specifically confused about?"

Wikus absentmindedly shrugged, be it his natural need for clarification or his boredom he just wanted to know– well, everything.

"Okay, let's start out with an easy question. Uh, who's datapad was it? It's signed off as—" His human mouth and vocal chords obviously butchered the prawn's name, so much so that it got a huff of laughter out of Christopher.

"Re'exitm. He was one of the top engineers akin to me." Christopher finished up and set aside the used bandages to take away later. To Wikus' relief the alien didn't use it as an excuse to leave their conversation early and instead took a seat next to him.

"Ah, and the whole food thing. What, uh, made the machines go down?"

Wikus hoped his smirk didn't show as Christopher copied his shrug, complete with a look off into the distance.

"It's safe to assume that the others got their claws into it. You've read the whole thing, you know about the virus, right?"

Wikus nodded, wondering if they could continue talking about it when Oliver made his way back over to them. Seeing as Christopher had no intention to stop Wikus didn't make any attempt to either.

"Yeah, you guys started—" he glanced at Oliver who was already immersed into the movie. "–to eat each other and got a little. . .not so mentally sound."

"I suppose that's a mild way of putting it. They got violent and wouldn't even listen to simple orders. And others and I were lucky enough to get all of the weapons under lock and key before that occurred."

A shudder rattled Christopher's exoskeleton as he relived the horrible experience in his mind.

"You were quite blessed that they were all too weak to do any actual damage when you got us out," Christopher mumbled. "Once we were fed normal meat the virus' effects seemed to subside."

"That's normal for you guys?!" Wikus whispered, not knowing whether or not to be laughing or concerned. He was informed when the familiar humourous clicks came from Christopher.

"Well, I haven't had the chance to study them to see if _all_ the effects were completely cured. As a whole my race isn't the gentlest. However, that's just the way workers are. Once they can't recognize an authority figure they become irritable and lost."

"Oh, yeah, Ree— Shut up! I'm not gonna say his name again, Jesus fucking Christ!" Wikus' failed attempts at causing damage with his weak punches only made Christopher chuckle more.

"—ugh, he said something about castes, right?"

"Ha, yes, he did."

"Well, are all other castes above workers or are there like other layers to this shi—stuff?"

Christopher tilted his head. "Yes, workers, in the context of a caste structure, are on the bottom."

"Who's on the top? A queen?" Wikus smiled at his own joke, wondering if Christopher could get it. He doubted the alien took time to learn about bee or ant structures. 

"A council is at the top, in religious terms the leaders are those who bear wings."

"Holy—! Wings? Are you serious?"

Christopher just watched as Wikus continued to be completely floored at the concept of a prawn with wings. It was a little entertaining.

"It's very rare for us to be born with such appendages so those who are held in the highest regards."

"Huh, 'cause it brings you closer to God," Wikus said moreso to himself as he laughed. To think that prawns had their own versions of angels.

"I'd _love_ to just discuss our religion and our goddesses to you but I'd really rather talk about _literally_ anything else," Christopher didn't try to hide the venom in his voice as he closed his eyes to keep his annoyance in check.

"Heh, what? You an atheist?" Wikus wasn't even trying to poke fun, learning about their culture was genuinely interesting. While alien religions weren't technically their politics it was enough to segway.

"Father doesn't like it because it's all Eldercarrier talks about," Oliver interjected.

Both adults looked at Oliver with confusion, he hadn't even tore his gaze away from the screen.

"Pfft, _what_?" Wikus had a smile made of laughter and concern etched on his face. It wasn't everyday that Oliver put his father's business out in the open.

"What Oliver means to say," Christopher sent a glare his son's way. "Is that my carrier is. . .deeply involved in our religion and is often very enthusiastic."

Wikus just had to nod and sigh sadly along with the alien. Images of an overly religious aunt of his ran through his mind, making him blink away any and all thoughts of that one horrible family get together.

"Let's just say he wasn't extremely happy to learn of my chosen profession," Christopher's clicks were dripping with frustration but Wikus couldn't help but completely empathize with him.

"Can't say my parents were either."

Wikus took immediate offense to Christopher's look of _"are you kidding me"._

"What?"

"Your parents weren't proud of you choosing to abuse your power over my people? Shocking." There he went again with the sarcasm but it was just too real for Wikus for it to be funny.

"Hey, I'll have you know that I joined with the sole intent of helping you— guys." Wikus crossed his arms, leaning away from the prawn in defense.

"And it didn't work it."

Being bullied for showing weakness and sympathy for another sentient species was what made him want to quit in the first place. Once he started dating his Tanya he couldn't build up the courage to go against her douchebag of a father. And so he stayed.

Which was a terrible choice in the long run.

"No, no it didn't," he mumbled, tearing away from Christopher's piercing gaze to see how far along in the movie they were.

Christopher found himself confused over Wikus' sudden silence. Any time the hybrid's past doings were brought up he seemed to still get irritable about it. It's been a couple of weeks since then and the alien couldn't figure out how long Wikus could dwell on it. 

Oh, well. 

Wikus had to admit it was kind of amazing how quickly Christopher got him to spill his guts. Did it come naturally or did all intergalactic engineers need a degree in psychology?

"Did any of the other castes survive or are you the only smart one that did?" Wikus didn't look back at him as he asked. He had to when he got a chuckle as a response.

"Was that a compliment? You might be getting worse."

Wikus managed to hold back any laughs that would've made Christopher's smug look grow stronger and instead had his lips form a line with his eyes glaring.

"Answer the question, you dick," he hissed under his breath, hoping Oliver wouldn't overhear.

Christopher just waved off his false anger and brought the bowl of meat over to himself. "Only one other engineer survived but she died a few years after we landed. Very few castes above workers but below mine managed to survive, like Tom."

Wikus nodded. "So somehow you didn't starve to death?"

Christopher wasn't at all offended by the question as it was completely legitimate. "I suppose I managed to get a few morsels before the lower floors were too dangerous to get to." He sighed. "I must be honest, I was in a haze for most of it. I remember little overall."

His antenna twitched as Wikus unexpectedly leaned in with a suspicious look on his face.

". . .what?"

"Don't tell me you ate—" Wikus couldn't hide the disgust on his face.

"No— _no!"_ The alien stopped his shouts as Oliver glanced over at the two before returning to the movie. "No, I did _not_ resort to cannibalism for food. Goddess!"

Wikus would've been lying if he didn't take extreme enjoyment in knocking Christopher off balance. Serves him right.

"Whatever you say." He made sure to make his inflection as exaggerated as possible. "Just don't go trying to eat my arm. I had enough of that on Earth."

Any chance of staying at least semi-serious was lost as Wikus laughed at Christopher's genuinely confused face.

"Mr. Wikus?"

The hybrid calmed himself down and turned to look at Oliver who was less engrossed in the movie.

"Ha, yeah?"

"Father and you talk too much."

That only made Wikus laugh more, combined with Oliver's adorable attempt at looking angry.

"What, two friends can't have a mature conversation?"

Christopher did something akin to a snort. "This conversation hasn't been mature since you derailed it."

Wikus made sure to keep his middle finger from Oliver's sight before he decided to ignore the two bickering adults.

While Wikus nonchalantly began eating more meat he felt instant relief. There was no opposition to his statement of he and Christopher being friends. The alien hated his guts in the beginning and would've done anything to keep the distance between them at great length. Now they were getting under each other's skin in a more friendly manner.

He may not have touched on the whole political situation but at least the status between the two of them has been established. The unsettling tension that had been present weeks before had all but dissipated and Wikus couldn't have been more grateful. His emotional state wouldn't have remained intact.

Being in close quarters with such a mouthy adult proved to be difficult but at least it was entertaining.

Especially now that he had alcohol in his possession. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao wikus is either laughing, crying, or yelling. There is no in-between XDD so now that he can't stop fucking laughing it's time for him to be SAD mwahahahahaha sorry for the long wait (been looking for a job and it's hella stressful) but at least this chapter made me interesting I'm writing more so YAY~


	12. A Wine Influenced Chat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay I lied, the crying is in the NEXT chapter (ill check back in to fix any mistakes imma take a nap)

Once they got to the 5th movie of the night Oliver finally fell asleep, right in the middle of Titanic. Wikus didn't know whether or not it was from lack of explosions or not. The youngling was covered with blankets and huddled inside the pile as if he was in a nest.

It was kinda cute.

Wikis glanced over at him pitifully. "Damn, he couldn't make it to the end," he mumbled. In his own opinion the ending was the only interesting part of the whole thing.

Wikis remembered when his wife dragged him to see it with her. However, his low self-esteem caused him to try and avoid being seen by anyone from work, particularly from his department. But seeing a man pinwheel to his death made the whole thing worth it.

He laughed as he clearly remembered trying to keep any chuckles silent as soft sobs erupted in the theater, including Tanya.

"Well, they just get to their destination, right? I doubt he'll miss anything important. They already got together." Christopher asked, eyes still lazily watching Rose and Jack dance together.

The naivete from not being raised on human entertainment, more specifically in drama stories, was clearly evident. Seeing the usually serious prawn just semi-invested in it made Wikus want to laugh more. 

The sly smirk on Wikus' face made Christopher want to squirm in his seat but he settled for a glare mixed with confusion.

"Oh, you'll see."

"That statement is anything but comforting."

Wikus laughed. "Good! I'm—I'm trying to keep you interested until the best part."

The confusion on the alien's face become more apparent. "I have nowhere else to be, your attempts at secrecy are futile . . . and stupid." He only added in that last part to get a rise out of the human. Which it did.

"Why is it that your voca— vocab—, words seem to get more complex the more pissed off you get?" Wikus grumbled, looking for a spare pillow to toss at Christopher's dumb face.

"Mostly to contrast with the way you speak."

"Tryin' to call me immature, eh?" Wikus managed to stop a laugh from coming out as he found a cushion the perfect size for assault. He knew Oliver was a heavy sleeper but if the kid woke up again due to the adults' antics he'd probably have a tantrum. 

"I feel like it's already been established by you getting ready to attack me with a pillow." Christopher was a bit surprised how easily Wikus managed to make all of his factual statements jabs at himself. He chuckled to himself.

"What? This?" Wikus looked at the offending weapon with concern. "I was gonna sit on it until I was s-so rudely interrupted." The fake hate in his voice contrasted with his light giggles as he promptly added the pillow to his already comfy seating arrangement.

"See? No evil deeds here."

Christopher just looked at Wikus with an unreasonable expression until he noticed a bottle near the human.

And the faint scent of something strong on his breath. The question as to how he never noticed only popped up in his head once before being replaced with others.

Well, that explained the giddiness and borderline annoying antics.

"What have you been drinking?"

Wikus turned his whole body to his drink and took a swig. "A bottle of wine I found with the food. How it's related to our survival, I'll— I'll never know."

He was only a quarter through the whole bottle but didn't appear to be stopping any time soon.

"I guess being drunk is better than feeling—" He paused and motioned towards his transforming arm. "Well, any of this."

Christopher just nodded. Being hazy while going through something that had a one in a million chance of ever occurring sounded appealing. And logical enough that he couldn't make a playful jab.

"Do you have alcohol on your planet?"

The prawn just huffed humorously. "Plan on going on a drunken binge?"

Wikus shook his head vigorously. "N-no! Since when does talking about drinks make me a alcoholic?"

"A what?" Christopher chirped.

"Someone addicted to alcohol— which I'm not!"

Christopher made a noise of understanding. "I'll have to make sure to keep you away from any and all alcohol when we land."

Wikus rolled his eyes but wanted to keep the conversation going. "I'm sure I can handle your dumb drinks, what percent— percentage are they? 14? 20?"

Christopher tilted his head, antenna twitching. "Percentage?"

"You know, how much alcohol is in the—"

"Oh, then I suppose 100%"

Wikus managed to swallow the wine in his mouth before he had the chance to choke.

"100%?! What is it, moonshine?!"

While he could've easily assumed it was an Earth drink the need to play with the words was too great. "I don't see how illumination from a moon as anything to do with alcohol, but yes, we just have alcohol."

"I'm surprised your planet hasn't devolved into total fucking chaos," Wikus muttered, not complaining when Christopher wordlessly takes the wine bottle from his hand. He just couldn't imagine a planet full of prawns that have access to 100% alcoholic beverages having a functional society.

"Oh, that is  _hilarious_  coming from you."

Wikus let out an exaggerated scoff. "Really?"

"I really don't have to take this from a species where the most common greeting is baring your canines at each other," Christopher jabbed playfully. He wasn't one to verbally call out another species' greeting for being strange; he was polite. But there was something about humans and their various physical greetings that was just confusing.

"Bare—? Oh, you mean smiling?" It shouldn't have been that funny but Wikus couldn't stop himself from laughing even more.

"Changing the name doesn't change the strangeness." The alien knew that there was no ill will in the action, as strange as human customs go it was the most simple.

"We're not fucking carnivores, it's not that freaky, you freak," Wikus mumbled.

"Would it make you feel more comfortable if I started _"smiling"_?" Christopher chuckled.

"Oh God, no." Wikus shuddered with a smile on his face.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm— Oh, fuck, stop!" The prawn has his mouth opened as wide as he could. The beak in place of teeth surprised Wikus for a split second before his brain actually processed the difference in their anatomy.

"What?" Christopher's tilted his head with fake ignorance, leaning in closer.

"Haha— stop, I get it, you ass!" Wikus attempted to push the alien back but the difference in their strength was evident as Christopher didn't budge.

"Be glad that other, more aggressive, species don't smile," Christopher stated, finally bringing the bottle of wine to his mouth. "It'd be impossible to know if they're a threat or not."

Wikus was about to ask what the prawn meant when he noticed his hilarious expression. Christopher held the bottle up with disgust, glaring at it.  "What is this, liquid fruit?"

"Heh, you mean juice?"

"Whatever. This is—" The prawn took another sip. "This is pathetic. How are you even intoxicated?"

The human shrugged exaggeratedly. While usual ribbing where Christopher rightly talks down to him makes Wikus want to defend himself this was making him chuckle.

Maybe it was the alcohol. Or maybe it was the excitement of learning more of the prawn's culture.

_It's probably both to be perfectly honest._

"Sorry to be the bearer of b-bad news but our biology's very different, you prick." He muttered the insult, not wanting the alien to suddenly hog his drink to further annoy him.

"Not for long," Christopher scoffed, his eyes laying on Wikus arm.

Wikus glanced at the offending arm with surprising indifference. Not wanting the mood to change he turned his attention back to the movie. Being happy and drink was always fun but add even a bit of sadness into the mix and Wikus would be sobbing on the floor for hours.

So nothing too different to what he was doing weeks before.

"Aw, you made me miss my favorite part. You ass," Wikus grumbled, pursing his lips as he avoided making eye contact with the alien. One look with even a hint of concern would probably break the dam that what his emotions. Better to be safe than sorry.

Despite all of his complaining, Christopher continued taking sips of the wine, as if trying to find any sort of enjoyment in it. "Just rewind it."

Wikus groaned as his kneecaps popped as he stood. "Nah, the moment's ruined." He wobbled over to the DVD player and chose the next movie.

The journey to the DVD player felt especially long to him but he refused to fall or make any indication that he's  _that_  drunk. Mostly due to Christopher already making fun of him, he refused to add fuel to the fire.

It was his turn to make some less than polite remarks back. Which was going to be easy as he put in Alien for the next movie.

()()()()

"Are there other races on your planet or is it just you guys?"

Christopher looked over the Wikus, unimpressed as the human sleepily clung to the empty wine bottle.

After the horrifying scene of a newly hatched alien pop out of a human's chest cavity the rest of the movie became an intense cat and mouse game, although as the characters were picked off one by one Christopher could already guess who would be the last one standing. So he was barely paying attention as Wikus continued asking him the strangest questions.

Questions like, "If you could lay your eggs like that would you?" And, "Who would win in a fight; you or the xenomorph?"

At that point Christopher either responded with a nod or a shake of the head, not really paying attention to the human's various reactions to his answers. Luckily Christopher managed to stop spacing out once Wikus asked an actual question.

"If you mean ones that have acid for blood you're about to be disappointed."

Wikus made a look of disgust as he swayed his body back unto the mattress. "No, God no. You guys are scary enough."

"Oh, so we're terrifying? This trip must be so hard for you." The glare sent the alien's way didn't faze his sarcastic clicks. The alcohol made it all too easy.

"Fuck you, it's just that you guys are like stronger— stronger than me and taller. I already have to deal with that with my own kind. Asshole," he hissed. The attempt at a threatening tone wasn't successful as his drowsiness made his voice anything but intimidating.

"Hmm, yes, I doubt you'll get any taller than you already are. Transformation or not." Christopher tilted his head in mock sadness.

Wikus didn't notice and just ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I stopped growing at around 17."

"Well, I can't refute that."

Wikus mumbled more insults under his breath as Ripley continued venturing through the ship. "You got us off topic, ass. Answer the question."

The two made eye contact for a second before focusing on the screen again.

"The amount of profanity you use hasn't changed but you certainly become more talkative when you're drunk." Christopher had yet to come to a conclusion as to whether or not that that was a good thing.

"Well, maybe you just don't talk enough." Wikus made sure not to slur his words, that'd make the conversation even longer with repetition added in for clarity.

_Hmm, so this is how she feels— No! No, we're not gonna get sad. Not now!_

Wikus cleared his throat to stop his inner ramblings, the sad ramblings of a drunk man.

"Considering we haven't explored every inch of the universe yet there isn't an approximate number for the amount of sentient species." Christopher crossed his arms, tapping a claw on his exoskeleton absentmindedly.

"There is quite a few on my home planet, mostly in the public districts."

Wikus tilted his head, almost swaying too far to the side. "What about the not so public districts?"

The alien shrugged. "Only government officials are allowed entrance to them, for obvious reasons." Wikus gently bit his lip, not wanting to cause any teeth to fall out. He could understand that, it wasn't as if any civilian or foreign visitor could just waltz into a government building. Or people wanting to preserve their most sacred places with cultural significance. 

"I'm gonna assume I'm one of the many not allowed in," he slurred, lazily blinking as he focused his eyes in on the movie still playing.

 "I'm not in charge of that department so we will just have to see." Christopher's eyes scanned Wikus' arm silently. "Although I'm certain that the council will want to see you." 

Wikus paused. "Really?" The thought of people of importance wanting to see him was completely foreign to him, be them aliens or not. Foreign enough to make him forget the whole reason why he was going with them and ask such a stupid question. "Why?" 

Christopher's unimpressed face didn't even bring a chuckle out of Wikus, he was too confused to care. "I'll make this simple for you." He pointed a claw to the human's left arm. Wikus heard him mumbling under his breath about alcohol making him slower than usual but the insult didn't register. He just curled his claws into a fist self-consciously. 

While Wikus has been in the presence of people with higher social status' before he had never been the center of attention. He gulped. How the hell was he supposed to deal with being stared at like a circus freak? He exhaled and blinked away any negative emotions that could lead him down the hole of drunk ramblings with crying in the mix. 

"Wikus?" 

"Yeah? Yeah, what's up?" His stuttering getting worse as he felt a migraine coming on from thinking too hard.  _Fuck_. Wikus glanced at the prawn and wasn't surprised to see concern on his face. "Oh, yeah- just, um, wondering when you're gonna fucking answer my question." 

Christopher scoffed but didn't make an indication that he wouldn't do so. "So far there are only five species that are recognized as those who have higher brain function." 

"So which one has the sharp teeth?" 

"The carnivorous Anslo'T. They have very large fangs and are extremely tall." He leaned in a bit. "They, however, do not bleed acid or lay terrifying eggs. I will understand if you're deeply disappointed."

Wikus rolled his eyes. "Psh, yeah, any and all interest for your planet and space in general is completely gone."

"Well, I can't say that I'm not glad you're excited to experience my culture firsthand."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Well, someone has to be. Explaining your day to day life would be pretty dull from your perspective, right?"

"When you put it like that, yes. But if another alien's on the edge of their seat listening to my boring ass life I'd be more than happy to give an auto— autobiography," Wikus playfully held his head high, causing him to sway backwards before gaining control over his equilibrium.

"Ha, should be fun to watch you repeat it over and over again to everyone who will want to meet you."

"Oh, please, I'll just record it all and sell the copies. I'm not  _that_  stupid," Wikus announced out loud with confidence mixing with exhaustion. The silly thought of him signing books like some kind of best selling author made him laugh hard enough to bring tears to his eyes.

"I'd beg to differ, considering I also have to give _my_ take on what happened."

"Yeah— ahahaha! Yeah, basically I helped save the day."

That made Christopher do a double take. Just how intoxicated was Wikus? "Wait a second—"

" _I_  was out in the field that day,  _I_  went to your hut,  _I_  got sprayed with alien fuel, and it was all of that which saved you, so uh, yeah, you're welcome." The human's mumbling wasn't too much as Christopher understood every word that came out of his rambling mouth.

"And I thank you for your sacrifice." The delivery was deadpan and his expression was blank.

Wikus nodded dumbly. "Yup," he popped the P at the end of the word, observing his left arm as if he just realized it was there. "It's fine though, I'll get my favorite arm back soon."

"You have a favorite arm?"

"Duh, right-y is for writing stuff and left-y is-  _was_  for strong stuff like opening jars." Wikus was at the point of mindless ramblings, the alcohol finally making him more tired and loose.

"How interesting."

"You bet it's fucking—" Wikus yawned, softly closing his mouth afterwards to avoid biting down too hard for his teeth. "— interesting, ugh."

Wikus slowly laid himself unto his back, getting more and more comfortable. "Tell me how you liked the movie when it's, ah, over."

"We can finish it later."

"No, I've already seen't it. It ends with Ripley—"

"You can't just tell me to finish it and then almost spoil it for me." Christopher was genuinely confused by drunk Wikus' logic.

_At this rate I'm going to slowly go insane._

Wikus just chuckled before immediately passing out. His breathing evening out as he fell deeper into sleep.

Oliver and Wikus slept silently as Christopher continued watching the movie by himself. While he was glad that Wikus had stopped talking his non-existent ear off the lack of background noise and the ambiance from the movie made the experience at least ten times better than before.

Which turned out to be a small pay off as the human ended up with a nasty hangover in the morning which he proceeded to bitch about for the whole time he was awake. Not even the painkillers could help Wikus with it.

How a human could drink so much and then complain about it afterwards Christopher would never know.

He still made a mental note of keeping Wikus away from any and all bars.

_The last thing I need in this life is an alcoholic human._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEYYYYY *runs from angry mob* Sorry for being MIA for like, 5 months. I just had no idea where to go for this chapter and eventually just died (college and work shit went down), I barely wrote anything for a bit until a few weeks ago when I forced myself to start writing again. so here's the end result, but don't worry I won't be leaving again for so goddamn long (already a 1000 words into the next one) So the Wikus tears will be all over the next chapter and then after that we can finally make to their Homeworld and advance this fucking slow burn (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧


	13. A Lullaby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HMM OOKAY HERE WE GO (i guess a warning for a panic attack and the shit that comes with it and a surgery scene but it lasts for like 2 seconds) may u never experience a panic attack for the new year~~

_Wikus just could not comprehend his surroundings._

_There was a long white hallway with doors on the sides which led nowhere. He gave up after opening the 7th one._

_It was cold._

_Very cold._

_He wasn't shivering. He just knew it was cold and that made him feel a severe sense of dread._

_Wikus shouted ahead of himself and behind but got no answer. Eventually, he gave up on that too. He stomped his feet on the hard and sterile tile floor._

_And then he heard it._

_His wife's voice. So light and angelic. He couldn't decide whether or not he heard it in his head but he couldn't bring himself to dwell on that for more than a millisecond._

_"Tanya?" He spun around, trying to decide what direction it came from._

_He heard her again, a bit clearer than before._

_"Wikus."_

_It wasn't a question, she spoke as if she knew he was here. Which made him more nervous since he still couldn't see her._

_"Tanya? Sweetheart?" He cupped his hands by his mouth. "Where are you?"_

_She just repeated his name._

_He decided to just walk forward since he came from what he assumed was the entrance. She had to be in that direction, right?_

_He steeled his nerves the best he could but the heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach didn't go away._

_"Wikus," she said again._

_He began walking faster, head filling with questions as to why his wife needed to see him so urgently._

_Tanya kept repeating his name, the inflection growing more and more intense with each statement. And each time it did Wikus found himself getting faster and faster until he was full on sprinting towards her voice. At least that's what he hoped for._

_"Tanya?!" He yelled, his demeanor becoming frantic. Tears threatened to blind him as he ran full speed down the never-ending hallway._

_He just couldn't understand why her voice never seemed to get any louder, indicating that he might be getting closer. If anything he was getting further away._

_His heart couldn't stop pounding and his legs were burning but he made no attempt to stop. Wikus was positive that if he did everything that was building up would ultimately lead to a panic attack when he could be with Tanya._

_"Tanya, please! Wh—where are you?!"_

_The bright lights and the white walls made Wikus begin to see stars, the tears only aiding in making him temporarily blind._

_God, what if she was hurt? What if she was waiting for him and was getting tired of it? What if she just became silent altogether?_

_What if—?_

_"Why did you leave me?"_

_Wikus almost tripped over his own feet. He steadied himself, leaning against a wall while evening out his breathing. His lungs weren't burning but his ears certainly were._

_"Wh—what? What do you mea—?"_

_"You left me. Alone."_

_"But— but I'm coming to you! Right now—!" he wheezed. "Please, I—"_

_"You left me on Earth."_

_Everything went silent for a second, so silent that Wikus could hear ringing in his ear._

_She was right. She was on Earth. And he wasn't. But that didn't make him less confused._

_Wikus felt a shot of betrayal go through him. Memories of the last conversation between them came back for him to relive. Where she basically told him that she couldn't handle the situation he had got them in. Where she basically gave up on him. Where she took her douchebag of a father's side over his._

_No. No!_

_"I, I had to, to get fixed. . ." He gazed down at his arm. His now human arm._

_What the hell? His heart quickened._

_"You left me all alone, in the mess you made."_

_Wikus could clearly hear her accusatory tone. "I— It's not like I did this on purpose— but I'm fixed now!" He held his left hand up as a sign of proof to Tanya who he still couldn't see._

_He couldn't hear her either._

_"T-Tanya?"_

_Still nothing._

_The panic that filled his body made him immediately start hyperventilating._

_He started to run again, most clumsily than before as he became more desperate to reach her. He could've sworn he was shouting her name so loudly that he strained his vocal cords but he no sound came out._

_The lack of sight and hearing took a toll on his sprint as he ended up tripping and falling hard unto the hard floor._

_"Tan—tanya, please," he cried out, tears coming out in full force._

_Wikus wasn't sure exactly when but during one of his many long blinks to gain some sense of awareness the hallway was gone._

_Which should've been a blessing in itself had he not have been in a place where he's restrained._

_Being tied down. IV bags inserted into his veins. People standing around taking notes._

_But they certainly were not human, the antennas being dead giveaways._

_But my hand is—!_

_Horrible instruments made him scream out in terror as they inched closer to him._

_This wasn't a part of the deal. Where was Christopher to tell them that he wasn't to be experimented on?_

_Unless—!_

_A tool with various sharp edges began making its way towards Wikus' abdomen._

_Tanya!_

_It broke through the skin._

_Tanya!_

_Blood began to spurt out, making Wikus let out a choked noise as he was forced to watch it all._

_Christopher!_

()()()

Wikus woke up too slowly. The dream left him physically drained as he didn't even sit up to make sure he was awake.

"Wikus."

He focused his eyes on Christopher who was sitting next to him with a hand on his shoulder.

Wikus had no energy to respond and just tried to breath more calmly.

"You were crying and mumbling," Christopher stated, leaning back to give the human space to calm down.

Wikus brought a hand to his face, his cheeks soaked in salty tears from his dream he could very vividly remember which meant a lot since he rarely ever managed to recall his dreams period.

He just groaned, too tired to care if Christopher outright saw him sobbing over a nightmare. Luckily, it wasn't a terrible choice as there were no mean comments made towards his vulnerable state.

"Y-yeah, it was nothing," he lied, closing his eyes to shake off the heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"This is the first time you've ever made those types of noises while you slept and you're clearly distressed." God, he was becoming Dr. Christopher again.

While he very desperately wanted to just put that whole experience out of his head the need to just talk about it was too great.

It just felt too real. Too real to ever sit right with him.

"Does it have something to do with . . . that?" Christopher motioned towards a half-empty bottle of whiskey that was placed a few inches away from the mattress. The human's reliance on alcohol was becoming more apparent.

Wikus groaned. "I just— I couldn't sleep and we're almost out of those painkillers and I—" A violent throb stopped him mid-sentence, making him clutch his aching head.

Christopher did a once over Wikus' body, making a noise of alarm as he saw blood dripping down from the human's left arm.

"It must've been quite a dream to make you undo your bandages and open a wound," he remarked, making his way over to the first aid kit nearby.

Wikus just whined, trying not to dehydrate himself by crying too hard in one day. "Fuck, I feel like I'm dying."

"You better not be, I'll be very upset if I just wasted all these supplies on you." Christopher didn't bring attention to the lack of any retort from Wikus. This wasn't the usual exaggeration of pain from him that Christopher had gotten used to.

They only had two painkillers pills left that which made Wikus more and more nervous. The thought of going through the whole painful transformation was terrifying so his fears weren't completely unreasonable.

Wikus stayed silent as Christopher patched him back up. The prawn had hung out in the control room the whole time while Wikus tried his damnedest to read a book while ignoring the spikes of pain he felt before drinking himself to sleep.

"Where's Oliver?" He asked, genuinely interested in the child's whereabouts on the ship.

"He's probably still eating his lunch, I told him to watch the movies in the control room to avoid waking you up."

Wikus felt a pang in his chest. Gratitude? "Hmm, how long was I out?"

"Around 11 hours, I think. I didn't time you."

Wikus couldn't stop the chuckle that bubbled up from his chest.

"Um, did I wake you up or...?"

"Yes. Yes, you did." Still as blunt as ever.

"Fuck, I'm sorry." Wikus couldn't bring himself to laugh at Christopher's missed opportunity to get some rest when the alien woke him out of his dream right before Wikus could become mentally scarred.

"It's fine, I've dealt with Oliver having vivid dreams before. Granted, not to this degree but enough for me to be worried." Christopher felt a wave of relief as he thought of the days ahead where his child wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. 

"Ha, considering his surroundings at the time I'm presently surprised," Wikus confessed.

"Yes, being demonized in another's society can do that," Christopher muttered, tying off more of the bandages around Wikus' arm. "Anything else?"

Wikus clutched his head with his human hand. "Got a hammer?"

"I'm afraid not." He tilted his head, looking at Wikus with a  _"see what happens when you drink"_ face.

Wikus only groaned in response, carefully turning over onto his back.

"What were you dreaming about?"

Wikus turned his head. After patching his arm up he figured the alien would just head to the control room to get some uninterrupted sleep. Well, Oliver  _was_  down there.

"What?"

"What was so scary that you woke me up?" Christopher crossed his arms.

"Ugh, it's nothing— why do you even care?" Now that he thought about it his worries shouldn't matter at all. Compared to what he and Oliver had to  _live_  through his bad week was nothing.

"I don't see any reason why I can't be concerned," Christopher said, as calm as he usually was in contrast to Wikus' spirling.

Wikus huffed. "Well, for one you should be fucking glad that I'm in complete and total pain, which is all because of me." He draped his right arm over his eyes as he continued. Christopher stayed silent as the human kept rambling, clasping his hands on his lap silently.

"Why are you even being nice to me, after all the shit you've been through— and your kid, oh God, your kid who sure as hell didn't deserve any of this,—" Wikus moaned, burying his face in both of his hands, not giving a shit about doing so with his prawn one.

"Wikus—"

"—Jesus Christ, every day I'm just waiting for me to fuck something up so badly that you won't fix me, fix this shit!" He wiggled his left arm in the air angrily, eyes pinched shut to try and keep his hot tears from escaping. "I wouldn't—wouldn't be fucking surprised that you ended up not fixing me at all no matter what, after all the shit my species has done to yours— and you still don't hate me!" His words at that point became slurred, making it harder and harder for Christopher to understand him.

"Wikus—"

"As far as I can tell you're not a fucking liar unless you're doing all this to—"

"Wikus!"

The human jolted out his state of anxiety for a split second when Christopher firmly grabbed his shoulders. His grip lessened as Wikus ceased his ramblings.

His face was red and he was close to hyperventilating. He was in the middle of a panic attack.

"Breath, that's all I'm asking you to do right now. Breath," Christopher ordered, maintaining eye contact as he rubbed his thumbs gently to calm the human down further.

Wikus just dumbly nodded, his mind cloudy and his heart in his throat. His inhales and exhales became less and less hoarse from sobbing and he closed his eyes again to focus on what the alien said.

They stayed like that for a bit, Christopher continuing to give Wikus soothing rubs as the human's breathing began to even out.

Christopher felt a sense of relief. He hadn't comforted anyone else besides his child before, let alone a human. Luckily his touches didn't worsen Wikus' panic attack like he thought it would. Reaching out had been a spur of the moment and he was glad he didn't have to regret it.

Wikus let out a whimper when the touches stopped, making him feel embarrassed and try to cover up the sound with a cough.  The prawn had stopped to reach for a nearby water bottle, making him feel more self-conscious.

Once Christopher handed it over Wikus wasted no time to chug it. Christopher suppressed the want to tell him to slow down but felt it better to speak on something of importance. 

"Humans are not the first species to treat mine this way."

Wikus blinked lazily as he set his water down. When what Christopher said finally registered in his head he stared in shock. "Holy shit, r-really?" He didn't feel relief, just confusion, and curiosity. Just how mistreated was his species among the galaxy? 

"Yes, around 200 solar cycles ago another species, the Hovvaith's, did the same. Although it was under different circumstances." Christopher has an almost emotionless tone to his clicks which didn't sit right with Wikus. Almost like he was bored.

"How—how did that turn out?" He was scared of the answer.

"After some negotiations and rightful punishments we were able to introduce them to space travel," Christopher shrugged. "This all happened before I was hatched so I lack any emotional investment in it." That explained why he was treating the entire thing like something you would hear in history class, akin to a young person talking about a war that occurred before their existence.

_At least he didn't mention any planet conquering or enslavement._ Wikus let out a shaky sigh.

"Even if my experience had been worse than those during that event I still wouldn't have taken it out on you," Christopher said, almost no louder than a whisper.

Wikus furrowed his brows. "Why? I was nothing but shit to you guys, and—"

"What was your main reason for joining MNU?" Wikus felt as if Christopher's eyes were staring right into his soul, making him feel nervous.

"To help, mostly. And to learn more about you, you all, uh," he paused. "You all came down here when I pretty young, about 15, I think. Finding out we're not alone in the universe, it made me want to learn more and I—" Wikus let out a pathetic giggle with a self-deprecating smile as he thought back to high school.

"What?" Christopher huffed, glad that the human's mood took a turn for the better.

"I, uh, I had dreams of being a part of an MNU group that would manage to get you guys back home, that I'd somehow solve both of our problems— ha! And here I am," he shook his head fondly, wondering if he had known this would happen in the future would he have still had that mindset.

"Overall you had good intentions, right?" Christopher asked, tilting his head and cooing as if he was talking to Oliver.

Wikus rolled his eyes. "Pssht, yeah, sure, and look at all the good I've managed to accomplish, I was stuck at a desk job filing paperwork and not doing anything to improve your lives. Yeah, I'm the cream of the crop," Wikus bitterly laughed.

"I don't think you quite understand how you, individually, couldn't have gone against your superiors and changed anything. You were in the same," Christopher paused, thinking of the correct metaphor. "Boat as the activists. While they wanted to help they couldn't do much, again, I think intentions is all that matters."

Wikus shook his head at the praise. "No, no, MNU was fucking killing you guys, experimenting on you, and I could've said or done anything—"

"And you would've gotten fired or ridiculed— the point is is that you wouldn't _be_ here," Christopher felt that it was important to include, considering the fragile state that was Wikus' self-esteem. "We got in the ship and you're doing what you've always intended; helping us."

The human frowned more. "Yeah, 'cause of this." He raised his mutating hand. "If it wasn't for  _this_  the fuel would still be locked up and I'd be fine and you guys would be fucking miserable and—"

"Wikus," Christopher clicked sternly enough to make Wikus shut up on the first try. "Don't think about what could've happened and just focus on right now."

Wikus clapped his hands together out of frustration. "And see? You being nice— I still don't fucking get that, because I've been a piece of shit to you since we've met and I've been walking eggshells for the past few weeks 'cause—"

"I feel like we just established that I don't hold a grudge against you, for anything you've done." Christopher was beginning to get frustrated himself.

Granted, most of his snide comments during their time together were probably a factor in how Wikus was feeling.

Christopher frowned to himself.

"Oh, yeah, 'cause I'm fucking positive that becoming a different fucking species is punishment enough for being a dick."

"Would you rather I yell at you and berate you? Is that what you're telling me?"

"That'd be way more under-fucking-standable than you being civil with me!" Wikus blinked away any tears that were beginning to well up again. "Be pissed! Tell me to fuck off! Something! 'Cause the more you go out of your way the worse I feel!"

As Wikus averted his eyes to try and calm himself down Christopher thought over their loud exchange.

"Despite what you've done and what you would've done had the turn of events been different you are still someone with the best interests at heart." Wikus kept his eyesight away from the alien. "You may wish for punishment all you want but I won't give it to you, we made a deal and you've kept your part of it. I would hope that you would respect me enough to know that I will do the same."

Wikus felt sick. "No, no, I wasn't—fuck, I didn't mean— I was just," he stuttered, fumbling with his hands as the knot in his stomach got worse and worse. "This is all just . . .  _terrifying_  for me, it's not that you're awful, 'cause you sure as hell aren't, but it's _always_ in the back of my head, and well, I'm sorry." The headache was coming back in full force. He had no reason to be so suspicious since nothing during their journey could ever label Christopher as untrustworthy.

_God, I'm fucking garbage._

"Well, I'll just have to remind you from time to time to ease your mind," Christopher chirped. "Let me know at any time, just make sure to tell me if it gets this bad though, I doubt having multiple panic attacks is healthy."

Wikus chuckled weakly. "Right," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his sore neck. "Um, can I—" He paused, wondering to himself if he was asking this for his state of mind or pure curiosity. "Can I get, um, a straight answer for why, uh, you care this much?" He probably already knew the answer, they were friends, right?

"I don't see any reason to just let you feel horrible, mentally or physically." Christopher looked off to the side, for the first time during their conversation which made Wikus tilt his head in concern. "While I could just remain strictly professional with you, cold and strict, I didn't see any reason to do so. I still don't."

He huffed out a chuckle. "I don't know if it's because we're the only adults on the ship or not but, and you may hate to hear this—" Wikus tried to hide a smile as the alien gave him a playfully smug look. "I've grown a little fond of you, if that whole movie night is any sort of evidence in the matter."

"So I humbly apologize if I feel any sort of concern for your well-being." With his explanation finished Christopher gave Wikus one more snooty look before asking another serious question. "Is that enough of a reason for you?"

Wikus nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I get that you're not just playing nice for Oliver's sake or anything." He bit his lip, trying to keep any shy smiles from appearing on his face. "Thanks."

The room fell silent as the two just look at each other, waiting for the other to either continue or end their conversation.

Wikus felt as if their gazes got more intense and broke the tension. "What?"

Christopher blinked as if he had zoned out and shook his head. "Hmm? Sorry, your eye was distracting me." He gestured to the one that was larger and hazel, causing the human to touch his face in horror.

Wikus stuck his tongue out at Christopher's playful jab. "Fuck you," he hissed, punching the alien in the arm as retaliation.

Christopher rolled his eyes.  _Sorry, I'm so tired from helping you out emotionally._ He kept that thought to himself as the last thing he wanted was to send Wikus back into a downward spiral.

He glanced at the door for a second, thoughts leading back to the control room and to his child.

"Is there anything else you need to say? I feel like you should get some proper sleep."

Wikus grimaced at the thought of going back to sleep after what woke him up. He narrowed his eyes and nodded, glaring at the space in front of himself.

"Do you know, um, what's going to happen, to fix me?" He was almost 100% positive that this hasn't happened before and so there's no frame of reference. But he just needed something,  _anything_  to get those haunting images from his nightmare to be incorrect.

Christopher surprisingly nodded. He carefully ran his explanation through his head first, not wanting to frighten Wikus. "I'm not a surgeon or a biologist but I know for certain that you will need to be put into a long sleep so they will be able to monitor the transformation closely, especially your brain and your spine. Had it not been so painful or uncertain I wouldn't even be giving you the pills."

Wikus cringed. "I'll be put into a coma? A long sleep?" He had never been in one, they've always been things that happens in soap operas, not in real life. Well, his life to be specific.

"Your vitals will be closely monitored and you won't even notice." Christopher didn't know how else to make the procedure less scary. And to make matters worse there was the slim chance that he could be totally wrong and just spewing misinformation.

"For how long?"

"I don't know for sure, could be a few months, maybe a third of a solar rotation," Christopher never liked being without all the facts and all he could do was approximate.

"Jeez, that long?" Wikus bit his human thumb nervously.

"And that's just for your transformation. It'll only be afterwards that we'll be able to work on the cure itself."

Wikus' eyes went wide. "You mean I'll have to wait longer?"

He was getting more and more worried, the opposite of what Christopher wanted. "Unfortunately, but you won't be in pain for much longer." Luckily the human didn't continue asking more on the topic, just staring at his bed sheets.

Christopher didn't feel comfortable at the thought of leaving Wikus on a sad note and changed the subject.

"Can I ask you something now, Wikus?"

The human nodded, trying to get his mind off of the coming weeks and months ahead. "Yeah."

"What were you dreaming about, when I woke you up?"

Right, the whole thing that, in a way, started this mess. Wikus winced, making pains shoot up his arm as his body seized for a second.

Christopher nodded, not wanting to exert Wikus any further. "It's fine if you don't wish to—"

Wikus held up his hand. "No, it's okay, it's was just," he sighed, hugging his knees to his chest. "It's just too real, you know? Like, real enough to make you forget you're dreaming," Wikus trailed off, steeling himself to retell the terrible experience.

Christopher made a noise of acknowledgment, staying silent to encourage Wikus to continue.

The human let out an exhale. His whole episode from before had drained what little energy he had. It also sobered him up quite a bit. Looking back on what his dream consisted of he suddenly felt very vulnerable.

He had no issue talking about himself with Christopher. Especially now that they talked through of that. But to discuss his relationship with his wife. . .?

He frowned.  _At this point I shouldn't give a fuck. The least he can do is listen and I can sleep peacefully._

"It was my wife." An image of her popped into Wikus' head, for once not making him smile. "She was, fuck, she was— was so mad at me." That's all he could say, going into any more detail threatened to make the dam break. Once was enough for the day.

"Why?"

"For leaving her. Leaving her in the mess I made, she's— fuck, she wasn't wrong," Wikus uttered.

"Hmm, I had thought your wife would be safe among her own kind," Christopher responded, appearing a little confused. While he understood leaving one's mate was difficult worrying about her well-being didn't make sense.

"Well, physically yeah. But socially, Jesus Christ, I can't imagine what she's going through right now." Wikus shut his eyes. "After all that shit, which was probably broadcasted to the entire world, she'll probably be labeled as the wife to a deranged prawn sympathizer who'll bring back an army." From what he could remember the news and the activists saying when he was on the run he had a good estimation of how the pandemonium would escalate.

"And that she blames you for it," Christopher added, finally connecting the pieces.

Wikus made a hum of agreement, ready for the alien to clear his head with his sincere words.

"You seem very certain that that's true."

Wikus shrugged. "I called her, during all of that. And she, she wouldn't even listen to me— the fucker, her dad, she trusted him more than me." He sighed bitterly. "Like, I get it, all the shit MNU said about me to cover it all up but it— it still hurt. A lot."

Christopher put a hand on Wikus' shoulder. "You must feel so conflicted about all that. Missing her but also being upset."

Hearing the alien spell it all out made all his complicated thoughts feel more simple. Less personal and easier to deal with.

"I can't give you any insight on this without just guessing, but just hold out until you get back to settle things." Christopher smiled a bit. "Goddesses, I've done so for 20 earth years, you can handle a few." Answering positively or negatively would've been useless, seeing as how the situation itself could end either way once they came back. 

Wikus laughed quietly. "Heh, I guess." That was it then. No more thinking about what might happen, at least until he's on spaceship ride back.

Focusing on everything else that's happening to him wouldn't be too difficult. He clenched his mutated hand in his sheets. 

"Feel better than before?" Christopher asked, prepared to sit down with his companion for however long he needed to.

"Pssh, way better," Wikus stated, running his hand through his hair. Had you told him before all of this that he'd be having a heart to heart with a prawn on their way to his homeworld he would've called you insane.

Instead of feeling embarrassed or worse than before Wikus felt like a weight had been lifted off of his chest. It had been too long since he had such a deep conversation with someone. Could be he hadn't given any indication of needing any but it was clearly obvious that years of anxiety had built up.

"Um, thank you, Christopher," he said sincerely, making eye contact. He didn't go into a tirade about how the alien didn't have to and just expressed his gratefulness, smiling sleepily.

"I'm glad you feel better." Christopher shifted in his seat. "You look tired, get some rest." He motioned to the bed.

Wikus nodded. "Yeah, um," he stuttered. He almost forgot that he was tired. While talking about it helped a lot he couldn't help but still be a bit anxious oversleeping again. "Could you, um, well, you don't have to—"

"I'll stay here until you fall asleep," Christopher chimed in. Oliver never liked to fall asleep alone either, although he wouldn't voice that out loud in case Wikus complained about being treated like a hatchling.

Wikus sputtered and laid down in a huff, his face red. "Yeah, yeah, thanks." Suddenly his body felt heavy, but only physically this time.

Christopher didn't add any comments and just quietly stared off in different directions in the room. Hopefully, Oliver wouldn't be too concerned over his long absence and come looking for him. It wouldn't take Wikus too long to pass out.

Wikus was almost asleep when he heard something. It was akin to the aliens' clicks but . . . different. Like a long melody or something.

Or a lullaby.

Wikus didn't react, be it positive or negative. No way was he going to let Christopher hold that over him, even if it turned into an inside joke for the two of them.

It did help though, he felt himself get more and more drowsy.

Until he finally fell into a deep, uneventful sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOOHOO THEYRE FRIENDS NOW lets get this slow burn train a-rolling~ the next chapter will probably be the last one with them on the ship THEN ITS TIME FOR MORE WORLDBUILDING (its so weird, I figured after I got a job id be dead tired 24/7 but here I am~~~) (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

**Author's Note:**

> I swear to god 90% of Wikus' dialogue is the word fuck. And as much as I love people writing it as "fook" I cannot bring myself to do that. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


End file.
